South Korean stocks led a broad sell-off across Asian markets on Friday, following overnight weakness in U.S. technology shares that spilled into regional trading and weighed on benchmark indexes. South Korea’s Kospi fell 5.54% to 8,160.59, with major semiconductor names under heavy pressure: Samsung Electronics dropped 6.40% and SK Hynix sank 9.92%. The Kosdaq, which is made up of smaller companies, declined 4.50% as investors moved away from riskier assets amid renewed concerns about the pace and durability of the global tech rally.
The slump came as South Korea’s labor minister called on the country’s largest technology firms to share more of the gains from the artificial intelligence-driven semiconductor boom with workers and suppliers. The comments added a policy headwind to an already fragile mood in the market, with record profits in the sector drawing scrutiny over income inequality and the distribution of benefits from the AI-led expansion.
Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.31% to 66,588.12, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.70% to 8,625.10, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.11% in the final hour of trade. Mainland China’s CSI 300 dropped 1.79% to 4,816.92. India’s markets were mixed, with the Nifty 50 slightly lower in volatile trading and the BSE Sensex essentially unchanged by early afternoon local time. The losses across the region reflected a wider reset in sentiment after a strong run in technology and semiconductor shares.
The overnight session on Wall Street set the tone. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to a new all-time high, gaining 874.86 points, or 1.73%, to close at 51,561.93. In contrast, the Nasdaq Composite underperformed, slipping 0.09% to 26,830.96, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.41% to 7,584.31. The divergence suggested investors were rotating out of expensive chip and AI-related names and into more traditional sectors.
That rotation accelerated after Broadcom fell more than 12% following a revenue miss for its fiscal second quarter. The disappointing report prompted a broader pullback in semiconductor stocks, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF losing more than 1%. Other chip-related names also declined, including Arm Holdings, which fell more than 4%, and Micron Technology, which dropped close to 8%. The move marked a sharp shift in momentum for a group that had been a key driver of market gains in recent months.
Geopolitical concerns added another layer of caution. Investors continued to monitor mixed signals from negotiations aimed at ending the war in the Middle East, a conflict that has unsettled global markets and contributed to spikes in oil and gasoline prices. The combination of tech-sector weakness, policy pressure in South Korea, and geopolitical uncertainty left Asian markets broadly lower and extended the volatility seen in global equities.
