SoftBank Group shares crashed 9.2% Wednesday morning, leading a brutal selloff across Asian tech markets as investors fled semiconductor and AI stocks following overnight losses in US peers. The rout signals growing concerns about government intervention in the chip sector and AI valuations.
The tech investment giant that helped birth the modern startup ecosystem is getting pummeled by the very forces it helped unleash. SoftBank Group shares opened down 9.2% in Tokyo Wednesday, extending Tuesday's decline despite CEO Masayoshi Son's surprise announcement of a $2 billion investment in Intel. The move, designed to signal confidence in the struggling chipmaker, instead highlighted how even SoftBank's massive war chest can't stem the tide when global sentiment turns.
The selloff ricocheted across Asia's tech corridors like a digital wildfire. Japanese semiconductor stalwart Advantest tumbled 6.27%, while Renesas Electronics and Tokyo Electron shed 2.46% and 0.75% respectively. The synchronized decline underscores how deeply integrated the global chip supply chain has become – and how vulnerable it remains to policy shocks.
The catalyst came from an unexpected source: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's consideration of taking federal equity stakes in companies receiving CHIPS Act funding, according to Reuters sources. The proposal sent shockwaves through an industry already grappling with export controls, tariff threats, and the growing weaponization of semiconductor technology. For investors who've poured billions into the AI boom, the specter of government ownership represents a fundamental shift in how the sector operates.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the world's most advanced chipmaker and Nvidia's key manufacturing partner, fell 1.69% as investors weighed the implications. The company's Phoenix fabs, funded partly through CHIPS Act money, could potentially face government oversight under Lutnick's proposal. Meanwhile, , which has pivoted aggressively into AI manufacturing through its , dropped 2.16%.
