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Chip Stock Selloff: Kospi Down 13% in a Week as SOX Drops 7.6%

South Korea's Kospi fell 5.46% to 6,035.35 on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and is down 13% in a week, while the U.S. chip index slipped for a fifth day.

By Global Terminal Staff · · 3 min read

A laptop memory module, known as a RAM stick, shown close up
Photo: Franck V. / Unsplash

Why it matters

  • South Korea's Kospi fell 5.46% to 6,035.35 on Tuesday, Oct. 13, and is down 13.05% from its Oct. 6 close, Yahoo Finance data show. SK hynix fell 10.09% and is now 50.6% below its June 22 peak close.
  • The selloff faded as it moved west. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.82%, Taiwan's Taiex 1.95% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index just 0.23%, its fifth straight loss. Nvidia rose 0.97%.
  • Outlets tied the selling to worries about AI valuations and to progress reported by Chinese memory maker CXMT. In Korea, the end of company buybacks left foreign selling unabsorbed, The Korea Times reported.

Analysis: this piece includes our interpretation of the facts reported.

The global chip-stock selloff hit South Korea hardest on Tuesday, Oct. 13. The Kospi fell 5.46% to 6,035.35, its lowest close since July 30, and has lost 13.05% since its Oct. 6 close, according to Yahoo Finance data. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, or SOX, fell only 0.23% in New York, but it is down 7.63% over the same week.

How far have chip-heavy markets fallen?

Korea's one-week drop is about 1.7 times the U.S. chip index's and more than four times Taiwan's. The table compares Tuesday's closes with Monday, with Oct. 6 and with each index's 52-week closing high, based on Yahoo Finance data.

IndexOct. 13 close1 daySince Oct. 6From 52-week high
Kospi (South Korea)6,035.35-5.46%-13.05%-33.78% (June 22)
Nikkei 225 (Japan)67,777.52-1.82%-4.11%-6.34% (June 25)
Taiex (Taiwan)48,341.31-1.95%-2.97%-2.97% (Oct. 6)
Philadelphia Semiconductor (U.S.)12,208.79-0.23%-7.63%-16.58% (June 22)

Japan was closed Monday, Oct. 12, so the Nikkei's one-day change is against Friday, Oct. 9. Korea was closed Oct. 9.

Memory makers fell the most. SK hynix dropped 10.09% to 1,443,000 won and Samsung Electronics 7.39% to 232,000 won, The Korea Times reported. In Tokyo, Kioxia fell 13.3% and Tokyo Electron 7.2%, Yahoo Finance data show. TSMC slipped 1.97% in Taipei.

How did U.S. chip stocks do on Tuesday?

Most held steady. Micron fell 3.62% to $953.19, and The Associated Press said it was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Nvidia rose 0.97% to $228.52, AMD 1.90% and Broadcom 0.73%, while ASML's U.S. shares fell 1.86%, Yahoo Finance data show. The S&P 500 slipped 0.02% to 7,805.45, according to the AP.

StockOct. 13 close1 daySince Oct. 6
Nvidia$228.52+0.97%-4.48%
Micron$953.19-3.62%-8.83%
AMD$605.53+1.90%-6.76%
Broadcom$357.31+0.73%-4.92%
TSMC (U.S. shares)$445.12+0.17%-7.71%
SK hynix (Seoul)1,443,000 won-10.09%-18.61%

Why are chip stocks falling?

Outlets point to valuation worries and Chinese competition. The AP said investors have long worried that chip prices rose too high in the AI boom, and reports that China's CXMT is making advances added to the concern. Yahoo Finance reported that CXMT announced progress on a new memory-cell design and aims to launch a server memory product on it by the end of 2026. Broadcom CEO Hock Tan on Monday likened investors speculating on AI to "a casino," Yahoo Finance reported.

Korea had its own problem. Samsung's share buyback has ended and SK hynix's is set to end this week, removing a buffer against foreign selling, The Korea Times reported. Foreign investors sold a net 4.51 trillion won ($3.36 billion) of Korean shares Tuesday, the paper said. It also cited a Financial Times report that put OpenAI's annualized revenue below earlier estimates.

What comes next?

Chip investors now look to U.S. inflation data and chipmaker earnings later this week, listed in our global markets week ahead. For background on Korea's slide, see our analysis of the Kospi's fall from its June peak. Live levels are on our world markets page.

Sources