By Junko Fujita
Japan's Nikkei share average reversed course to end higher on Monday, as chip-related stocks cut losses after South Korea rolled out sweeping chip and AI mega-projects.
The Nikkei TVC:NI225 closed 0.15% higher at 69,468.11, after falling as much as 1.97% earlier in the session. The broader Topix TSE:TOPIX rose 0.47% to 3,982.
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said the world's two largest memory chipmakers, Samsung Electronics KRX:005930 and SK Hynix KRX:000660, would invest some $520 billion with suppliers to build two new chip fabrication sites in the country.
"What pushed the Nikkei lower were chip-related shares, and what made the Nikkei reverse the loss were also chip-related shares," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.
Memory chipmaker Kioxia TSE:285A narrowed its early loss, ending 4.5% lower. Chip-testing equipment maker Advantest TSE:6857 fell 1.51%. Chip-making equipment maker Tokyo Electron TSE:8035 rose 2.44%.
Those shares declined in early trade after the Philadelphia SE semiconductor index's NASDAQ:SOX 5.3% fall on Friday. The decline underscores recent volatility among AI-related chipmakers that have fuelled much of Wall Street's gains in recent years.
On Monday, investors rotated out of AI-related stocks to beaten-down shares, said Shuutarou Yasuda, a market analyst at Tokai Tokyo Intelligence Laboratory.
"There was a concern in the market that memory chip prices have risen too much," he said.
Game maker Nintendo TSE:7974, whose profits have been squeezed by rising memory chip prices, jumped 5.25%, while Sony Group TSE:6758 rose 3.13%.
The fragility of the U.S.-Iran interim peace deal has not become a market-moving cue in Japan, said Yasuda.
Energy-related shares, which typically react positively to war tensions, fell on Monday.
The mining sector (.IMING.T) lost 1.83% and oil refiners (.IPETE.T) fell 1.07%.
Of the more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 69% rose, 26% fell and 2% traded flat.