The AI trade that seemed unstoppable for much of 2026 just ran into a very large, very immovable wall. Semiconductor stocks across Asia cratered on June 22, dragging regional markets into their worst single-day performance in months.
South Korea bore the brunt of the damage. The KOSPI index plunged nearly 10%, enough to trigger a market-wide circuit breaker. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics, the two heavyweight chipmakers that anchor the Korean market, each saw their shares collapse by approximately 12%.
From record highs to circuit breakers
Just one day before the crash, SK Hynix had overtaken Samsung as South Korea’s most valuable listed company. The broader Asian tech complex followed Korea downward. Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped over 3%, while semiconductor-adjacent names in Hong Kong and China also saw notable weakness.
Micron, one of the memory chip sector’s bellwethers, had posted a staggering 230% gain year-to-date before the pullback.
