U.S. Semiconductor Sell-Off Spreads Across Asia... SoftBank Plummets 8%

Japanese technology stocks plunged sharply as the U.S. semiconductor sell-off spread across Asia, reported CNBC on the 17th. SoftBank's shares fell 8.8%, with Tokyo Electron dropping 9% and Advantest falling 9.4%. Kioxia plummeted over 14% following a Texas federal jury ruling that found Viasat's memory technology patent infringement, ordering it to pay $229 million. South Korea's market was closed for a public holiday, with SK Hynix falling over 11% and U.S.-listed shares down 13%+. The U.S. tech sector continued to weaken, with the Nasdaq Composite down 1.47%, the Versus Semiconductor ETF near 4% lower, and Arm Holdings, Micron Technology, AMD, and Broadcom all falling over 5%. TSMC raised its annual capital expenditure forecast to $60-64 billion from $52-56 billion, but investors focused on AI cost burdens rather than expansion. Analysts noted concerns about escalating spending worries and the difficulty of justifying aggressive investment cycles, while some viewed the sell-off as a correction from AI momentum speculation.