AI in action · Markets
Asia's Chip Stocks Rebounded; SoftBank Didn't
Tokyo Electron rose 6.5% and SK Hynix 3.9% in early trading on November 9 as Asian chip stocks rebounded, while SoftBank Group, a big OpenAI investor, fell 2.9%.
Asian markets had taken the full force of last week's AI sell-off: Tokyo and Seoul each fell about 6% after Wall Street's plunge on Thursday, November 5. On Monday, November 9, they bounced. The Nikkei 225 rose 3.4% to 59,411.34 in early trading and South Korea's Kospi 1.5% to 5,137.22, the Associated Press reported, while Taiwan's Taiex jumped about 5.6% after authorities activated a stabilisation fund and curbed short selling.
The gains were led by the companies that sell the tools and memory for AI data centres. Tokyo Electron, a maker of chip-production equipment, rose 6.5% and the chip tester Advantest 5.1%. In Seoul, SK Hynix, the leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators, rose 3.9% and Samsung Electronics 2.7%. TSMC, which makes most of the world's advanced AI chips, rose 5.6%.
One large AI name went the other way. SoftBank Group fell 2.9%. Its value depends heavily on its stakes in OpenAI and Arm and on the financing of its AI commitments, rather than on chip sales, so the rebound in equipment and memory makers did little for it. The split matches what happened in the US on Friday, when chip stocks recovered first: the Philadelphia semiconductor index rose 4.2% and TSMC's US shares 6.3%, while the broader S&P 500 rose only 0.3%.
The rebound came despite a weekend that added a new uncertainty: Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation into its chief executive, Jensen Huang. Investors in Asia appeared to treat that as a governance issue for one company rather than a change in demand for the chips and memory their markets produce. The question that drove last week's sell-off, whether US political shifts slow data-centre construction, was not answered over the weekend either.
Two dates will test the bounce: TSMC's October revenue on Tuesday, November 10, and Nvidia's results on November 17. A rebound led by equipment and memory makers depends on orders that are already placed; if those reports confirm them, Monday's move will look justified. If not, it will look like the relief rally that usually follows a 6% fall.
Sources: Associated Press via WRAL — Asian markets bounce back after a recovery for AI stocks on Wall Street (Nov 9, 2026); Startup Fortune — Taiwan stocks jump as regulators curb short selling and deploy a stabilization fund (Nov 9, 2026)