Stock Crash: SoftBank shares tank 15% in Asian trading amidst AI stocks sell-off

Shares of Japan's SoftBank, a leading backer of AI-linked firms, tanked 15% in Asian trading on Wednesday, November 5, as concerns over valuations of these companies led to a sell-off on Wall Street.

The decline on Wall Street has percolated to Asian indices as well. Semiconductor and AI-linked shares are witnessing sharp losses in Asian trading this morning.

Semiconductor testing equipment manufacturer Advantest declined over 8%, while chipmaker Renesas Electronics is down 6% in Asian trading on Wednesday. losses are also led by South Korean giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are also down 6% each. Despite this fall, shares of Samsung are up over 80% year-to-date, while SK Hynix has more than tripled, rising 210%.

Over in Taiwan, shares of the world's largest chip manufacturer TSMC are down over 3%, as are those of Alibaba in China, while Tencent is down 2% as well.

Asian tech stocks are taking cue from the sell-off seen on Wall Street overnight, led by Palantir, which tanked over 8% in regular trading despite an earnings beat. On a one-year forward price-to-sales basis, Palantir is the most expensive stock on the S&P 500, after a 175% surge in stock price during 2025.

“There is fear of an AI correction, and if it comes, it will sweep the rest of the market with it due to the heavy weight of the leading names,” market veteran Louis Navellier wrote in a note.

US-linked tech stocks like Nvidia also fell overnight after Michael Burry, famed for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, announced that he has short positions on Palantir and Nvidia, who have been the lead gainers of this AI rally. Nvidia shares fell 4% overnight, while AMD shares also declined 5% in extended trading after its results failed to enthuse investors.

(With Inputs From Agencies.)