The sentiment shift began in New York, where Alphabet’s third-quarter results highlighted the high cost of AI integration, causing search revenue growth to stall. This reality check hit the Nasdaq futures, which slipped 2.4% during Asian trading hours. In South Korea, the impact was immediate: the Kospi index tumbled 3.3% as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix fell 5.0% and 7.6%, respectively. The Korea Exchange even halted trading briefly after futures breached a 5% decline threshold.

Analysts are questioning whether the current margins for infrastructure providers can hold as new manufacturing capacity and memory production scale up. Charu Chanana of Saxo Markets noted that increased supply could eventually pressure pricing, cooling the speculative heat currently surrounding AI hardware. Consequently, Softbank Group saw its shares drop 6.5%, while the Nikkei 225 and Taiwan’s Taiex both retreated 2.2%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng remained a rare exception, climbing 1.6% against the regional tide.

While equities struggled, energy markets tightened. Brent crude futures climbed to $116.10 a barrel following an ANZ Research report that warned of zero surplus OPEC capacity and strained logistical routes. Gold faced downward pressure as well, slipping to $3,995.23 an ounce. Expectations of higher interest rates are bolstering bond yields, creating a difficult environment for nonyielding assets like bullion.