According to Yonhap, HKET and Investing.com, a fresh selloff in memory-chip shares drove Asian equities sharply lower at midday Wednesday, with only Hong Kong resisting the tide.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was down 1,961.63 points, or 2.91%, at 65,499.10 as of 04:33 UTC, pressured by chip-equipment names. Tokyo Electron fell 2.94% and SoftBank Group also declined, echoing an overnight rout in U.S. storage and AI-infrastructure stocks.
Seoul's KOSPI plunged 395.02 points, or 5.75%, to 6,474.81 as of 04:33 UTC, with trading briefly halted after the index slid more than 5%. SK Hynix tumbled 9.09% and Samsung Electronics dropped 7.45%. Separately, the Korea Development Institute raised its 2026 growth forecast to 3.2% from 2.5%, citing stronger-than-expected chip exports and facility investment.
Hong Kong stocks bucked the regional decline, with the Hang Seng Index up 62.23 points, or 0.24%, at 25,533.38 at the midday break, though the Hang Seng Tech Index eased 0.82%. Xiaomi rose about 7% after its results, while Meituan gained 3.10% and Tencent added 1.08%. Baidu slumped more than 11% following its earnings, and Hua Hong Semiconductor fell more than 12%; oil producers advanced, with PetroChina up over 2%.
Taiwan's TAIEX fell 717.72 points, or 1.58%, to 44,590.96 as of 04:33 UTC. TSMC slipped 1.47%, with weakness concentrated in weighted electronics names.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite closed the morning down 78.13 points, or 1.96%, at 3,912.17, while the Shenzhen Component lost 3.97% and the ChiNext dropped 4.98%. Unitree Robotics made its Star Market debut, closing the morning at 883.87 yuan, up 486.12%, after opening 629% above its IPO price.