South Korea's KOSPI Drops Up to 8%, Triggering Circuit Breaker as Chipmakers Lead Losses

South Korea's KOSPI index fell as much as 8% on Thursday, triggering a midday trading halt via circuit breaker. Chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix recorded losses of 9% to 11%. Market observers linked the decline to stronger-than-expected US inflation data, concerns about AI spending, debt at technology infrastructure providers, and rising Chinese semiconductor competition. Japan's Nikkei also dropped nearly 4% on the same day.

Around midday on Thursday, an automatic circuit-breaker halted trading on the KOSPI after the index fell as far as 8 percent during the session, a suspension that spread across X through user posts; chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix bore some of the heaviest share-price pressure, with each company's stock shedding between 9 and 11 percent. Weeks of back-to-back trading losses pulled the index beneath the floor it had maintained since peaking in June, extending a losing run to its longest stretch in years. Inflation readings that came in above forecasts stoked expectations that the Federal Reserve would hold a tighter policy line, while analysts pointed to a separate cluster of concerns — nervousness around artificial intelligence spending levels, debt burdens at firms such as CoreWeave, and a growing competitive push from Chinese chipmakers — as additional forces that combined to deepen the broader sell-off.

South Korea's KOSPI Drops Up to 8%, Triggering Circuit Breaker as Chipmakers Lead Losses

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South Korea's KOSPI Drops Up to 8%, Triggering Circuit Breaker as Chipmakers Lead Losses

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