Apple memory chip warning causes fresh Asia tech sell-off
Markets across Asia fell sharply during Friday trading after US tech giant Apple blamed memory chip shortages on its decision to hike product prices.
South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi suffered the biggest losses, forcing the stock exchange to trigger a 20 minute trading halt for the third time this week.
It also marked the fifth trading halt of the year to date.
The Kospi tumbled 6.9 per cent to 8,309.6 points ending its Thursday boost caused by Micron’s profit surge.
Index darling SK Hynix plunged 9.1 per cent to 2,651,000 KRW (£1305.6), while Samsung Electronics tumbled 6.2 per cent.
Tokyo’s tech heavy Nikkei 225 also felt the Wall Street jitters, falling 4.3 per cent to 69,194.6 points.
Semiconductor company Tokyo Electron fell 3.2 per cent.
Taiwan’s TAIEX dropped 3.6 per cent, with index star TSMC falling 2.1 per cent.
Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: “With valuations so stretched, even a slight turn in sentiment shows up in big moves. Right now, investors are highly sensitive to worries about how long the voracious demand for chips to power the AI revolution will last.
The triggers setting off this latest wave of selling are rate hike fright and supply chain fears. The fight for memory chips, which has pushed up prices to eye-watering levels, is showing up in sharp increases for end-users… There’s a feeling that there’s only so long this can go on for.”
Apple’s warning
The selloff came after Apple increased prices of Macbooks and iPads 20 per cent worldwide, one of the broadest price hikes in its history, blaming memory chip shortages amid the ongoing AI boom.
Apple said on Thursday that the consumer technology industry is facing an “unprecedented challenge”, with memory prices rising so quickly there was no other choice but to pass costs on to consumers.
The hike came only a week after chief executive Tim Cook warned that increases would be “unavoidable” because of the “unsustainable” cost of both memory and storage.
Apple said: “The rapid expansion of AI data centres has created an extraordinary surge in demand for memory and storage.
“We know this is not welcome news, and we are working tirelessly to find solutions.”
But Streeter argued that investors remain “unconvinced that consumers will keep paying higher prices” regardless of the brand’s standing, with shares closing 6.1 per cent lower on Thursday, trading at $271.1p (£205.4) per share.
Open AI delay hits Softbank
Reports that Open AI could delay its hotly anticipated public market debut until next year also spooked investors across Asia.
Tokyo-listed Softbank, which is one of Open AI’s largest backers having participated in the company’s funding rounds, saw its earlier gains be erased by news of the possible delay.
Its share price plummeted 12.5 per cent, with its US listed subsidiary Arm Holdings also falling 3.1 per cent during Thursday trading.
Open AI chief executive Sam Altman has reportedly pushed advisers to target a $1 trillion valuation, a leap from its latest private market valuation of $730bn, leading the AI firm to consider a 2027 listing to achieve its wanted valuation.