South Korea's KOSPI index plunged by over 3.6% on Monday, driven by a sharp selloff in semiconductor giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which fell over 4% each. The drop was fueled by significant foreign investor outflows amid growing concerns that the global artificial intelligence-driven boom in memory chips is losing momentum.
The negative sentiment from Asia carried over to Europe, resulting in a mixed trading session for the region's semiconductor companies. The varied performance highlights investor uncertainty as they weigh the heavy downturn in the Korean market against the broader, long-term outlook for the AI and chip manufacturing sectors.