Kospi Falls 3.5%, Nikkei 2.4% as Asian Chip Stocks Slide
Key Facts
South Korea's Kospi index fell 3.5% during trading on October 22, 2026, according to an update published by Investing.com, as chipmakers' shares declined amid turmoil in the artificial intelligence sector. In Japan, the Nikkei index dropped 2.4% during the same Asian session, according to the update, which reported intraday declines. The selloff included South Korea's SK Hynix, which fell 4%, posting a larger loss than rival Samsung Electronics. Samsung shares declined 3.6% during trading, with both South Korean companies coming under pressure in the same session. In Japan, Kioxia shares fell 3.3%, according to figures cited in the body of the website's report on Asian trading.
In the U.S. session on October 22, the S&P 500 fell 1.2%, according to the Associated Press, alongside steeper losses in the Nasdaq Composite. The Nasdaq dropped 2.6%, outpacing the broader index's decline in a session marked by pressure on AI-related stocks. Nvidia shares lost 4.4%, according to the agency, extending turmoil in the sector's stocks that affected U.S. and Asian companies on the same day. The Associated Press linked the turmoil to concerns over borrowing costs to finance the construction of data centers and purchases of the chips they require. The agency described part of those concerns as relating to "how high the cost of borrowing money is," in the context of financing AI infrastructure.
Samsung's decline followed the release of preliminary guidance in which the company estimated consolidated operating profit for the third quarter of 2026 at approximately 107.40 trillion Korean won. The company said in its statement that the estimate was "approximately 107.40 trillion Korean won," in earnings guidance published before the selloff. By comparison, the table accompanying Samsung's announcement showed consolidated operating profit of 89.49 trillion won in the second quarter of the same year. Operating profit in the third quarter of 2025 was approximately 12.17 trillion won, according to the company's table, compared with its higher estimate for the third quarter of the current year. In memory manufacturing expansion, Kioxia and SanDisk announced an investment plan in Japan worth more than $31 billion in August 2026. The companies made implementation of the plan conditional on government support, a condition included in the announcement of the planned investments, which provide context for the scale of capital expenditure in the sector.
Against the backdrop of Japanese trading, Japan's Statistics Bureau published September consumer price data on October 23, 2026, showing a 2.1% annual increase in overall prices. The overall consumer price index stood at 102.2 points, according to the official release, against a 2025 base year of 100 points. The index excluding fresh food and energy rose 2.4% from the same month a year earlier. That index stood at 102.8 points in September, according to figures published by the Statistics Bureau. The annual rate of price increases excluding fresh food and energy therefore exceeded headline inflation in the data published ahead of the Bank of Japan's next monetary policy meeting.
South Korea's upcoming economic releases begin with the Bank of Korea's consumer survey on October 27, 2026, at 6:00 a.m. Korean time, according to the official release schedule. It will be followed the same day by the preliminary estimate of third-quarter real gross domestic product, scheduled for release at 8:00 a.m. local time. In Japan, the central bank will hold its next monetary policy meeting on October 29 and 30, 2026, according to the schedule announced by the bank. Kioxia has set October 30, 2026, for the release of its second-quarter results for fiscal 2026, according to the company's investor relations calendar. Its results are scheduled for release at 18:45 Japan time, on the day the central bank's meeting ends.