A fresh downdraft in artificial-intelligence shares rattled global markets, with chipmakers leading losses across Asia and pressuring U.S. equities. South Korea’s Kospi tumbled more than 10% and Japan’s Nikkei fell over 4%, while U.S. benchmarks opened lower as semiconductor names—Intel, AMD, Western Digital and Seagate—slid and Nvidia extended declines. Investors are growing wary of the sector’s heavy borrowing to fund data-center buildouts, with credit-default-swap prices tied to several tech leaders hitting records in recent days. The selloff came despite a blockbuster Shanghai debut for Chinese memory maker CXMT and alongside a sharp retreat in oil, which pulled back from last week’s spike. In the U.K., GSK unveiled a £400 million plan to relocate R&D to Cambridge and step up late-stage trials as part of a broader cost push; Unilever signaled potential price increases later this year; and Barclays posted a 17% profit rise on stronger trading and banking fees. Regulators remained active, with Ofcom moving to block an Openreach discount plan and the FRC fining EY over its audit of Made.com.
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