Symbols of SK Hynix Inc. at the company’s office in Seongnam, South Korea, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Seong Joon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asian semiconductor stocks fell on Thursday, as sales by US chipmakers spread across the region, while SK Hynix continued to see strong volatility since its US listing last week.
Shares of SK Hynix fell more than 11% in Seoul, reversing the previous session’s 8% gain. The stock posted its biggest one-day decline on Monday, as investors locked in gains amid growing concerns about the use of AI.
Domestic rival Samsung Electronics fell more than 7%. Seoul Semiconductor fell more than 5%, LG Innotek fell nearly 1%, and Samsung SDI fell more than 2%.
Weakness spread throughout the region. In Japan, AI-connected device maker Advantest fell more than 6%, SoftBank Group slipped by about 7%, Tokyo Electron lost more than 5%, while Renesas Electronics decreased by 4%.
The loss tracked a sell-off in US semiconductor stocks overnight. Micron technology died by 8%, Intel lost more than 4%, while Lam research again Advanced Micro Devices each down about 3%.
“Today’s decline mainly follows the overnight US session,” said Rolf Bulk, Head of Semiconductor & Infrastructure Equity Research at Futurum Group.
He pointed to a proposed freeze on data center construction in New York and reports that CoreWeave was checking hedges against the coming drop in memory prices as less positive signs.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday ordered a temporary halt on major new data center projects while the state develops stricter standards governing their energy, water and environmental impacts.
Bulk told CNBC that the recent weakness reflected profit-taking after a sharp rally rather than a deterioration in the sector’s fundamentals, adding that structural demand for AI infrastructure and memory chips remains intact.
Demand for high-bandwidth memory chips continues to outstrip supply as cloud providers rush to build AI infrastructure, allowing leading memory makers such as SK Hynix and Micron to maintain strong pricing power.
Chip sales also come despite strong results from ASML. The Dutch chip-equipment maker raised full-year sales guidance for the second time this year, forecasting revenue of 43 billion euros to 45 billion euros, above analysts’ expectations, while outlining plans to further ramp production of its ultra-high-risk ultraviolet devices.
Louis Kondratev, trader at XFUNDs, noted that the recent pullback shows how semiconductor trading has become saturated after a long AI-driven rally.
“Semiconductors alone now make up about 20% of the S&P 500, which is very difficult to maintain,” he said. He noted that during the dot-com bubble of 2000, semiconductors were just over 8% of the index, and historically they have averaged between 2% and 5%.
While earnings momentum remains strong, he also warned the pace of gains may be difficult to sustain as investors re-evaluate higher valuations.
“Earnings pressure has been very strong, but most of it is focused on semiconductors, and that pressure may start to decrease as valuation finds its place,” he said.
