Asian Markets Plunge on AI Spending Fears; South Korea Hit Hardest

Asian markets plunged Thursday over new concerns about AI infrastructure spending, with South Korea's KOSPI index falling nearly 8% in what local media dubbed "Black Thursday." Samsung shares dropped 9.5%, while SK Hynix fell over 11%. The selloff originated Wednesday in the US, where the Nasdaq declined nearly 2%, with AI-linked firms Oracle and CoreWeave suffering significant losses. European and US markets largely stabilized Thursday. Bloomberg cited Anthropic's solid but slowing revenue growth and rising US Treasury yields as pressure factors. South Korea's index now sits over 40% below its mid-June peak, approaching the average decline of seven prior market crises, including 1987's Black Monday and the 2008 financial crisis. Analyst Manish Singh noted AI's value depends on profitability, not installed computing power.