Asian stocks fell alongside US equity-index futures as a selloff in chipmakers deepened with investors questioning whether they had rallied too far and too fast earlier this year. Oil climbed.MSCI’s Asia Pacific equities gauge dropped 2.1 per cent, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average losing 4.4 per cent. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped more than 4 per cent as the chip bellwether’s solid earnings outlook was overshadowed by a higher spending forecast. Kioxia Holdings Corp. sank by 15 per cent in Tokyo, halving its market capitalization in just a month.Netflix Inc. also weighed on sentiment, with shares falling 9 per cent in extended trading after the company forecast a second straight quarter of slowing sales growth. Equity-index futures for the Nasdaq 100 Index retreated almost 1 per cent. Elsewhere, Brent rebounded from Thursday’s losses as hostilities across West Asia continued to escalate and shipping traffic slumped in the Strait of Hormuz. The commodity traded just below $85 a barrel and was up 12 per cent for the week, on track for its biggest weekly gain since April and rekindling inflation concerns.Technology stocks have come under pressure in recent weeks as investors increasingly question whether this year’s blistering AI-driven rally has run too far, too fast.While softer US inflation has eased expectations of an immediate Federal Reserve interest-rate hike and West Asia tensions continue to drive oil prices, the focus remains on AI earnings for evidence that billions of dollars in spending will translate into returns.“Capex guidance comes into focus again as investors get increasingly skeptical on whether growth can be achieved sustainably while maintaining a healthy balance sheet,” said Fabien Yip, a market analyst at IG International. “We expect the market to continue to experience volatility during the earning season, but this is unlikely to be an end to the AI story.”In other corners of the market, Government bonds edged lower in Australia and Japan. Treasuries were little changed, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year holding at 4.55 per cent.The yen traded around 162.45 per dollar even as Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama renewed her warning of possible intervention in the market as the currency continued to hover near its lowest level in four decades.Gold was on track for its biggest weekly loss since early June as renewed hostilities in West Asia and rising oil prices fuelled speculation the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer.The dollar was a touch stronger against most of its major peers. That was due to a combination of the selloff in technology stocks, rising energy prices, and higher US real yields, said Chidu Narayanan, chief Asia Pacific strategist at Wells Fargo in Singapore.“US data is not ‘hot,’ but it is strong enough to support the dollar even as other factors are leaning towards marginal dollar strength,” he said.What Bloomberg’s Strategists Say...The speed and depth of declines across Asia’s main stock indexes is starting to look like panic selling as investors try to lock in what they can off this year’s remaining gains. The calendar impact is helping to worsen the mood as, with July half way complete, the losses for traders are mounting.— Mark Cranfield, MLIV Asia. For full analysis, click here.Attention remained firmly on the semiconductor sector as investors questioned whether tech stocks had become too richly valued. Alphabet Inc. sank 4.4 per cent Thursday after Google was said to be months behind schedule in delivering its flagship AI model.Traders are grappling with whether the more than $725 billion the four biggest US AI operators are expected to spend this year will translate into returns.The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index has dropped about 19 per cent from a June peak. A gauge of Asian semiconductor makers was headed for its biggest weekly decline since early March, with Japanese companies taking a hit on Friday and South Korean markets closed.“The action in the chip stocks going forward is still the most important issue for the stock market,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak. “They are definitely showing some meaningful cracks, so they’re going to have to see a strong and sustainable rebound soon or it will raise some real warning flags.”Some of the main moves in markets:Stocks