South Korean shares fell sharply on Friday, and were on track for their biggest weekly drop in more than three months, as overnight losses in U.S. tech stocks prompted investors to book profits.The Kospi slumped up to 8.2% on Friday, giving up all of the prior session’s advances and triggering a 20-minute circuit-breaker halt for the second time this week. Shares of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix plunged more than 9% each, while foreign investors offloaded Kospi stocks worth 2.7 trillion won ($1.7 billion) during the morning session.U.S. technology shares reversed early gains to move lower on Thursday, weighing on the Nasdaq as investors worried about hyperscaler spending on AI and ⁠who foots ‌the bill. Those fears outweighed upbeat signals on AI demand from Micron and Qualcomm.Samsung Group will announce on Monday plans to ⁠invest 1,000 trillion won ($645.87 billion) in South Korea over 10 years, including a potential 300 trillion won to build chip factories in the southwest of the country, a report said."Today's slump can be mostly explained by high volatility amid concentration in the chip sector, while worries about memory demand declining are a bit excessive," said Han Ji-young, an analyst at Kiwoom Securities. Among index heavyweights, chipmaker Samsung Electronics fell 6.69%, while peer ‌SK Hynix lost 7.03%. Battery maker LG Energy Solution slid 5.11%.Hyundai Motor and sister automaker Kia Corp were down 4.77% and down 4.30%, respectively. Steelmaker POSCO Holdings ⁠shed 5.73%, while drugmaker Samsung BioLogics fell 3.10%.Of the total 915 traded issues, 111 shares advanced, while 792 declined.Foreigners were net sellers of shares worth 2.6 trillion won ($1.68 billion). The won was quoted at 1,548.2 per dollar on the onshore settlement platform, 0.33% lower than its previous close at 1,543.1.The most liquid three-year Korean treasury bond yield rose by 0.5 basis point to 3.757%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose by 4.4 basis points to 4.165%.(With inputs from agencies)