Asian Tech Stocks Plummet Following U.S. Peer Losses and Potential Government Equity Stakes in Semiconductors

SoftBank Group’s shares experienced a significant drop of 9.2% on Wednesday, mirroring the decline in technology stocks across Asia, following losses in U.S. counterparts overnight. The tech-centric investment firm endured a second consecutive session of share depreciation, following its announcement of a $2 billion investment in Intel. The latter’s shares rose 6.97% to close at $25.31 on Tuesday in the U.S.

In Japan, other tech stocks also faced declines. Semiconductor giant Advantest plummeted by as much as 6.27%. Shares in Renesas Electronics and Tokyo Electron were last seen trading 2.46% and 0.75% lower, respectively.

Technology companies in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong also experienced falls, after U.S. tech stocks tumbled overnight due to declines in Nvidia’s shares. The potential federal government intervention in semiconductor companies that receive funding under the CHIPS Act for domestic plant construction is being contemplated by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

In Taiwan, shares of chipmakers TSMC and Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) dropped 1.69% and 2.16%, respectively. TSMC manufactures Nvidia’s high-performance graphics processing units that aid large language models, while Foxconn has a strategic partnership with Nvidia to build AI factories.

South Korean tech stocks mostly fell, with chipmaker SK Hynix down 3.33%. However, Samsung Electronics bucked the trend by rising 0.75%. Notably, TSMC, Samsung, and SK Hynix are among companies that have received funding under the CHIPS Act.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Tech index shed 0.87% in early trade. The worst performing stocks on the index included Kuaishou Technology, which dropped 4.8%, JD Health International, down 3.31%, and Horizon Robotics, which lost 2.29%. Further declines were also observed in tech giants Alibaba Group and Xiaomi Corp, which fell 1.44% and 1.34%, respectively.