The Chips Rout Goes Global

Chip stocks are sliding globally as investors question whether Big Tech’s heavy AI spending is translating into profits, while “open-weight” models make AI infrastructure cheaper to run. The sell-off showed up sharply in South Korea: the Kospi fell more than 10% on Tuesday, wiping nearly $600 billion off SK Hynix’s market value. Nvidia dropped 5% on Monday, losing its spot as the world’s most valuable listed company to Apple in a rout worth about $250 billion. Analysts cite fast AI capex, circular financing concerns, and growing Chinese competition. Goldman Sachs forecasts Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft will spend $5.3 trillion on capex through 2030, and S&P Global estimates borrowing up to $400 billion this year.