Kospi Halts Again as Asia Tech Rout Deepens
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- South Korea's Kospi index triggered a 20-minute circuit breaker halt after an 8% intraday plunge Friday, closing 5.8% lower — the fifth such halt this year and the third this week alone.
- Japan's Nikkei 225 closed more than 4% lower, with technology investment giant SoftBank plunging 12.5%.
- Apple shares dropped 6% on Thursday — its biggest one-day fall in more than a year — after announcing price increases for iPads and MacBooks tied to soaring chip costs.
- Microsoft shares fell Thursday after announcing higher Xbox console prices, citing component cost increases that have raised concerns about slowing chip demand if device sales weaken.
- Big tech firms are on track to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on AI infrastructure this year, a level of capital deployment that has prompted some investors to question whether current valuations are realistic.
- Raymond Woo of Kyoto University Innovation Capital said high costs of commercializing AI tools are being passed to consumers, raising doubts about whether demand will match the investment cycle.
Why it matters: Apple and Microsoft are passing surging chip costs to consumers through higher iPad, MacBook, and Xbox prices, and the resulting demand uncertainty is now rippling through Asian tech benchmarks — South Korea's circuit breaker hitting three times in one week shows how abruptly the AI-capex narrative can unwind once profitability questions surface.
