South Korea's Kospi collapsed 10 percent as tech took a battering on another black day for Asian stock markets, with a report of a breakthrough in China's chip industry compounding worries about the longevity of the AI boom.The losses extended a sell-off across the industry globally following an eye-watering rally over the past two years that has sent several indexes and companies to record highs.
They also overshadowed a more upbeat outlook over the Middle East conflict as the United States and Iran paused tit-for-tat strikes for a third day and Donald Trump suggested there was a "good chance" of a deal to end hostilities.
Semiconductor firms were at the forefront of a region-wide rout Tuesday after website The Information said China's Shanghai Yuliangsheng had started mass production of a chipmaker technology long dominated by Dutch firm ASML.
Seoul-listed SK hynix and Samsung lost around 13 percent, dragging the Kospi index down 10.2 percent, having earlier been paused for a 20-minute circuit-breaker.
The two firms have fallen almost 50 percent since hitting all-time highs last month, while the Kospi is down more than 30 percent.
