Japanese Markets Suffer Sharpest Selloff Since March

Semiconductor-related equities bore the brunt of the selling pressure. Advantest, a leader in chip-testing equipment, led the retreat with a 15% dive, while Kioxia and Tokyo Electron dropped 12% and 7.3% respectively. Softbank Group also retreated, shedding 9.3% as the volatility rippled across Asia. Markets in South Korea and Taiwan mirrored the downward trend, with the Kospi sliding 8.8% and the Taiex falling 3.4%.

Investors are reconsidering the long-term viability of debt-funded AI expansion. With U.S. 10-year Treasury yields climbing above 5%, the cost of financing multiyear infrastructure projects has surged. Analyst Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives & Co. noted that markets are aggressively repricing assets that rely on future revenue streams to justify current high valuations. This skepticism is compounded by credit market shifts, evidenced by a sharp selloff in the corporate bonds of U.S. data-center operator CoreWeave.

Market observers expect this turbulence to persist through the upcoming earnings season. As major semiconductor firms prepare to release results, analysts are bracing for a potential reset in sentiment. Chris Weston of Pepperstone pointed to a collision of factors—entrenched inflation, rising competition from China, and the economic toll of a higher-for-longer interest rate environment—as the primary drivers behind the current market instability.