Asia tech rout deepens 12% as Apple price hikes hit chip stocks

Asian technology stocks tumbled Friday, with SoftBank Group plunging more than 12% and chipmakers SK Hynix and Samsung each sliding about 8%, extending a global selloff triggered by Apple's price hikes.

"The market is repricing the cost of memory inflation in real time," said Dan Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities. "Apple passing higher chip costs to consumers confirms what investors feared — the AI-driven memory boom has a downstream cost."

The selloff followed a fourth straight decline on the Nasdaq Composite, which fell 2.2%, and a 6.1% drop in Apple shares after the company announced price increases for iPads and MacBooks to offset surging memory and storage chip costs. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also slid, with Micron Technology and Sandisk each dropping 13%, while Intel, Advanced Micro Devices and Qualcomm lost more than 5% each. South Korea's Kospi index fell as much as 10% on Tuesday before recovering some ground, while Japan's tech-heavy sectors came under pressure from SoftBank's decline.

The coordinated selloff across U.S. and Asian tech names signals a potential repricing of semiconductor valuations as rising input costs squeeze margins and get passed to consumers, potentially dampening demand for consumer electronics. Investors now face a key question: whether the AI-driven memory cycle can sustain its momentum if end-user prices continue to rise.

In Japan, chip-equipment maker Advantest traded flat, while Tokyo Electron fell 3.4%. Chinese technology stocks delivered mixed results, with Tencent rising 1.2% and Baidu climbing 1.3%, while Xiaomi and JD.com fell 0.8% and 2.4%, respectively.

Apple's price increases mark the first major instance of memory chip inflation being passed directly to consumers. Outgoing Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook had warned earlier this month about rising memory costs, and the company followed through with higher prices on Macs and iPads.

"The pricing pressure is very real and it's landing in the laps of consumers," said Daniel Newman, chief executive officer of Futurum Group. "Structurally, the capex and AI trade got validation, but the knock-on effects are being digested."

Baird investment strategist Ross Mayfield said the selloff was more about positioning than fundamentals. "The rotation out of AI infrastructure and memory was never really about fundamentals — it was a technical move," he said. "Micron's results reinforce the durability of the AI buildout, but it doesn't do much to relieve the immediate pressure of overcrowded positioning."

Wedbush's Ives said recent channel checks across Asia and enterprise AI demand trends showed "no cracks in the armor," arguing the selloff was more likely a pause after a near 100% rally in the Kospi this year rather than a sign of weakening fundamentals.

The S&P 500 edged down 0.08% to 7,352, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.35% to 52,028, highlighting the narrowness of the selloff. The Nasdaq 100 managed a 0.55% gain to 29,382, though the recovery was concentrated in a handful of names.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.