Japan and South Korea stocks plunge on AI demand fears

Japanese and South Korean stocks plunged on Friday (Nov 6) amid renewed fears that the artificial intelligence boom may be ending, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 posting its worst single-day drop since April 2025 and Seoul's Kospi triggering a circuit breaker. The Nikkei 225 and Topix both fell nearly 6%, while the Kospi dropped 8.5% below 5,000 points, briefly halting trading. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which together account for half the Kospi's composition, fell 9.9% and 11.7% respectively, as investors worried about weakening memory chip demand. The selloff followed a 6.4% decline in Wall Street's Nasdaq 100 on Thursday, erasing over $3 trillion in market value. Analysts cited concerns that Democratic victories in key US states could lead to stricter AI regulation, while Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government was monitoring the situation closely.