KOSPI Crashes 6% on Chip Selloff; TSMC Earnings in Focus
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- KOSPI slumped more than 6%, triggering a brief trading halt, as chip heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics dropped roughly 11.5% and 8.8% respectively amid a broader semiconductor rout.
- Bank of Korea raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 2.75%, citing persistent inflation, rising household debt, and domestic economic resilience — a hawkish move that also rattled rate-sensitive sectors.
- Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 2.7% and the broader TOPIX fell 1.1% as memory-chip and semiconductor names dragged the market lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.7%, bucking the regional downtrend.
- TSMC was set to report quarterly earnings later in the day, with analysts projecting a fifth consecutive quarter of record profit on AI-related demand; investors were watching for any upward revision to full-year revenue and capex guidance.
- Investors pointed to U.S. attacks on Iran and renewed Strait of Hormuz shipping risks as a parallel driver, with higher crude prices stoking fears that energy inflation could squeeze corporate margins and limit central bank easing.
- China's Shanghai Composite and CSI 300 each edged down about 0.5%, while Australia's ASX 200 slipped 0.3% and Singapore's Straits Times Index fell 0.5%, underscoring the breadth of the regional pullback outside Hong Kong.
Why it matters: A 6% single-session KOSPI crash with a trading halt signals forced selling in Korea's flagship AI-memory proxies SK Hynix and Samsung just as TSMC — the sector's bellwether — prepares to validate or disappoint record-profit expectations, making Thursday's print the single biggest near-term catalyst for global tech sentiment and a direct test of whether AI capex spending remains intact.
