Global Market: Samsung, SK Hynix plunge up to 11% as investors reassess AI chip boom

Samsung Electronics shares fell up to 9.5% and SK Hynix dropped as much as 10.9% as investors reassessed the durability of the AI-driven semiconductor rally. The broader KOSPI benchmark was trading 7.3% lower, with selling triggered by concerns over AI infrastructure financing, Nvidia potentially providing a financial backstop of about $250 billion for an OpenAI data-centre project, advances in Chinese DUV lithography, and rising competition from Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT. Nvidia shares fell nearly 5% on Wall Street, signalling a broad pullback across global AI-linked semiconductor names.