# Asian Tech Stocks Plunge as South Korea Halts Trading After Wall Street Chip Rout

*2026-11-06 15:01 UTC · Business · 1 min read*

> Korea triggered a circuit breaker as KOSPI fell as much as 8.7% after a Wall Street tech selloff driven by data center worries.

AI-linked stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan plummeted on Friday after a sharp tech selloff on Wall Street overnight. The Korea Exchange imposed a circuit breaker during morning trading to slow the selling, with the KOSPI index down as much as 8.7% at one point, according to Nikkei Asia.

Investors are worried that a sweeping Democratic victory in the U.S. midterm elections could delay data center construction, a key driver of demand for AI chips and memory. Market summaries put the Nasdaq 100 down about 6% on Thursday, a record $2.3 trillion loss in value, with the Philadelphia chip index off roughly 12%.

The moves hit the same Asian chipmakers and memory suppliers that had rallied on AI demand for most of the year. Why it matters: the rout shows how dependent global markets have become on the pace of AI infrastructure spending.

## Sources

- [asia.nikkei.com](https://asia.nikkei.com/business/markets/taiwan-stocks-in-steepest-ever-fall-south-korea-halts-trading-amid-ai-rout)
- [techmeme.com](https://www.techmeme.com/)

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TechTools News · https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/2646-asian-tech-stocks-plunge-as-south-korea-halts-trading-after-wall-street-chip
Česká verze: https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/2720-asijske-technologicke-akcie-prudce-padaji-jizni-korea-zastavila-obchodovani-po