Signal Korean chip stocks plunge amid global AI investment doubts

Summary

South Korea's KOSPI index plunged 10.8 percent, triggering multiple trading halts. Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell more than 10 to 14 percent respectively. The sell-off was driven by growing skepticism about the sustainability of global AI infrastructure investment. It was compounded by news that a Chinese firm had begun mass production of immersion DUV lithography equipment. Commentators say the episode exposed the structural vulnerability of a Korean market heavily concentrated in a handful of AI-semiconductor companies.