Japan’s Nikkei 225 plummeted roughly 5.43% on Thursday, falling to 63,208 points in what became one of the worst single-day trading sessions the index has seen in recent memory. Taiwan’s benchmark index wasn’t far behind, dropping more than 4% as the entire Asia-Pacific region bled red.
The broader Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index fell approximately 3%, tracking a tech rout on Wall Street from the prior session. The Nikkei had been trading above 73,000 before this correction took hold, meaning the index has shed roughly 10,000 points in a remarkably short window.
Semiconductors at the center of the storm
TSMC, the Taiwanese foundry that essentially manufactures the world’s most advanced chips, saw its shares drop between 2% and 3.6%. Mixed earnings reports from the company gave investors the excuse they’d been looking for to take profits after an extended rally in AI-related names.
In Japan, the carnage was even more concentrated. Kioxia Holdings, the memory chip manufacturer, cratered 15% in a single session. Tokyo Electron, SoftBank Group, Advantest, and Murata Manufacturing all posted significant declines.
