Chip companies fall in America and Asia as AI jitters annoy investors

Shares of major chip companies fell sharply in the U.S. and Asia on a sell-off in artificial intelligence-related stocks.

Trading on South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was halted after slipping 8 percent on Tuesday morning. It fell further after a 20-minute halt to trade down 10%.

The rally was led by technology firms, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both falling more than 10 percent.

It comes after AI chip giant Nvidia fell 5 percent in New York on Monday, dethroning Apple as the world’s most valuable listed company.

The tech-heavy Kospi has halted eight times this year, a stock market scheme known as a circuit broker designed to calm panic selling.

The index more than doubled from the start of the year to mid-June, but has since lost about a third of its value.

In recent months, the stock market has attracted a large number of retail investors, especially in South Korea.

On Monday, US-listed shares in SK Hynix fell 7.5% and fell below the $149 discount price. Breaking records on the Nasdaq On July 9.

Japan’s Nikkei 225, which is dominated by tech companies, was down 4.5 percent on Tuesday morning.

Shares of Navia fell on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that it was in talks to offer Open about $250 billion as part of a massive data center project.

The BBC has contacted Nvidia and OpenAI for comment.

The decline allowed Apple to overtake Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company after the iPhone maker rose nearly 25 percent this year.

As governments and companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars developing AI capabilities, some analysts question whether the technology will be profitable enough to recoup such huge investments.