Seoul and Tokyo lead an Asian chip selloff on China memory report
Kospi and Nikkei fell sharply as AI worries hit memory-chip makers.
Asia Markets · Tuesday, October 13, 2026 · 6:15 AM ET
Asian stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, led by chip-related shares in Seoul and Tokyo, after reports that a Chinese memory-chip maker has made progress on new technology (AFP, Nikkei Asia, Business Upturn).
What happened
AFP said Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei led losses as technology firms fell on fresh worries about the outlook for the AI investment boom. South Korea's Kospi dropped as SK hynix and Samsung were hit after reports that China's CXMT had made progress on technology to increase memory density, with a new server-memory product possible by the end of the year. Reports of the Kospi's drop varied as the session ended: AP's headline said more than 7%, Business Upturn put the close at 6,005.09, down 5.94%, and Barron's said it closed 5.5% lower.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 2.60% to 67,233.22, according to Business Upturn; AFP said it lost nearly 3%, with Kioxia down more than 12% and Tokyo Electron and Advantest each down more than 6%. Taiwan's TSMC lost 1.8% (AFP). Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.41% to 24,172.09 and the Shanghai Composite fell 0.43% (Business Upturn).
"China continues to narrow the competitive gap with US companies across AI models, humanoid robotics, memory and other parts of the technology supply chain," Pepperstone's Chris Weston told AFP. AFP also said comments from Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, who likened the recent investor rush into AI to gambling, added to the unease.
The link to Wall Street
US chip stocks fell Monday as well; the Dow and S&P 500 finished mixed (AP). Our Dusk Ledger has the full close, and earlier moves are in our Monday Kospi story and our OpenAI revenue story. European tech shares also fell about 1.5% in early trade (Reuters).