South Korea’s KOSPI fell below 5,000 on Friday for the first time since February. An 8% slide after the open triggered a circuit breaker, halting trading for 20 minutes.

SK Hynix shareholders absorbed one of the sharpest losses. The stock sank 11.71% to 1,116,000 won, even though the chipmaker reported record quarterly sales last week.

KOSPI Index Performance. Source: Google Finance

How Wall Street’s AI Sell-Off Crossed the Pacific

The losses began in New York. The S&P 500 fell 4.36% on Thursday, while the Nasdaq dropped 5.52%. Chip stocks fared worse, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sank 12.25%, its steepest drop since March 2020.

BeInCrypto reported three pressures behind that rout:

• Incoming governors in Texas, Georgia, and Ohio…