{"text":[[{"start":10.16,"text":"A global sell-off in semiconductor shares deepened on Tuesday following comments from Broadcom’s chief executive about the casino-like nature of AI investing."}],[{"start":18.92,"text":"The rout also came after China’s CXMT claimed to be making progress in chip technology that is being developed by Korean competitors."}],[{"start":26.86,"text":"Shares in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the world’s two largest memory-chip makers, fell as much as 8.8 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively in morning trading in Seoul, dragging South Korea’s main stock index down as much as 7 per cent."}],[{"start":41.98,"text":"The two companies account for about half the benchmark Kospi and have now shed almost 15 per cent over the past five days."}],[{"start":48.92,"text":"The Kospi was the world’s worst-performing stock market in the third quarter after more than tripling between early 2025 and its peak in mid-July."}],[{"start":49.42,"text":"Taiwan’s chip-heavy Taiex slipped as much as 2.5 per cent, with chipmaker TSMC dropping 1.8 per cent."}],[{"start":65.28,"text":"Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.5 per cent on Tuesday, while S&P 500 futures were just 0.1 per cent lower."}],[{"start":null,"text":"
"}],[{"start":73.36,"text":"The falls followed losses on Wall Street on Monday, with US chipmaker Micron Technology sliding almost 4 per cent, while the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index dropped 2.7 per cent."}],[{"start":84.92,"text":"Concern about the sector was fuelled by Broadcom boss Hock Tan’s warning about the gambling-like characteristics of the AI trade."}],[{"start":92.24,"text":"“A lot of investors have no clue what they are investing in,” the head of the US chipmaker told an event in Singapore on Monday in comments reported by Bloomberg. They “set very extreme expectations only to find out that it’s almost like they are in a casino”, he added."}],[{"start":108.28,"text":"Ecaterina Bigos, senior market strategist at BNP Paribas Asset Management, said a combination of higher bond yields and growing investor concerns over the returns on AI investments was driving the sell-off. “Investors are starting to question how the earnings are going to deliver,” she said."}],[{"start":124.12,"text":"There were signs that the sell-off was part of a broader reassessment of AI by investors."}],[{"start":130.18,"text":"Shares of SoftBank Group, which holds a stake of more than 10 per cent in ChatGPT maker OpenAI, were down almost 8 per cent in Tokyo, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 falling as much as 2.7 per cent."}],[{"start":144.44,"text":"Frank Benzimra, head of Asia equity strategy at Société Générale, attributed the Kospi and Nikkei falls to flash memory fears: “The rising competition from China is becoming an additional headwind for memory companies on top of expectations of moderating growth in memory chip prices.”"}],[{"start":162.82,"text":"Investors were also fretting about a report that Chinese DRam producer CXMT was making headway with a new memory architecture that SK Hynix and Samsung were also developing."}],[{"start":173.72,"text":"Hao Hong, chief investment officer at hedge fund Lotus Asset Management, pointed to the selling of Korean stocks by foreign investors, as well as the overnight US memory sell-off and CXMT’s new technology. Foreign investors have sold more than $150bn of South Korean stocks this year."}],[{"start":192.16,"text":"In China the CSI 300 and Hang Seng index fell by 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively. The chip-heavy Star 50 index declined 0.5 per cent after falling as much as 3.8 per cent. CXMT fell 0.5 per cent, having pared losses."}],[{"start":212.24,"text":"Investor concern about the durability of AI spending and the profitability of chipmakers beyond this year continued despite record earnings by Samsung, which last week estimated that its operating profit surged nearly ninefold in the third quarter amid continued supply shortages."}],[{"start":229,"text":"“Investors remain very cautious on [chipmakers] and these earnings did little to change that,” said Dec Mullarkey, head of investment strategy and asset allocation at SLC Management."}],[{"start":239.2,"text":"“Chip investors have long memories of its painful boom-bust cycles,” he added. “Therefore, [they] continue to be sceptical about the durability of oversized profits.”"}],[{"start":252.84,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1791876244_6597.mp3"}