Symbolic imageAsian tech stocks plunge as AI debt and inflation fears spread
Asian tech stocks plunged on Thursday, with South Korea's KOSPI down 7.6% and Japan's Nikkei nearly 5%, after a US selloff on hot inflation data. Record TSMC profit did not stop the slide.
Asian shares plunged on Thursday, 15 October, after a Wall Street selloff sparked by higher-than-expected US consumer prices for September and worries about AI investment, Nikkei Asia reports. Handelsblatt cites growing doubts about the profitability of AI data centres and their chip suppliers. Okasan Securities strategist Fumio Matsumoto said good AI results are already priced in. Nissay's Shingo Ide said even vague unease now moves prices sharply.
Credit stress at AI borrowers
Bloomberg reports that CoreWeave's credit risk hit a record, pricing 60% odds of default. The Financial Times writes that debt issued by AI infrastructure and neocloud companies has sunk towards stressed territory as investors dump data centre bonds.
TSMC posts record profit
TSMC reported its sixth record quarterly profit in a row: net income rose 69% to the equivalent of 21.02 billion euros, about 500 million euros above analyst forecasts, according to Handelsblatt. Nikkei Asia adds that the company is weighing further US expansion, with Texas an option and talks continuing on joining Elon Musk's Terafab complex.