Asia’s tech rout a wake-up call on AI era: deVere

Binaya Dahal

Journalist

9 June 2026

The sharp sell-off across Asia’s technology sector is a warning sign of how quickly sentiment can turn in increasingly concentrated artificial intelligence-linked markets, says deVere Group’s chief executive Nigel Green.

The remark comes as South Korea’s Kospi index plunged 8% on Monday, with major AI-linked names Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix driving the declines. In Japan, SoftBank Group fell 7.5%, while chip-equipment makers Tokyo Electron and Advantest slid 6.7% and 5% respectively.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, also came under pressure as the sell-off spread through Asia’s semiconductor and AI supply chain.

The rout followed a sharp decline in US semiconductor stocks after Broadcom reported quarterly revenue that missed market expectations, triggering an estimated $1.8 trillion wipeout in the S&P 500’s market capitalisation.

Green said the scale and speed of the reversal mattered more than the size of individual declines, describing Broadcom as “merely the trigger” and adding that what investors are witnessing is “the first real macro shock of the AI era.”

“Investors have been reminded that expectations can become so stretched that even a small miss can trigger a worldwide reset,” he said.

Green added that artificial intelligence is now operating as a de facto macro asset class, shaping cross-border capital flows and influencing national equity benchmarks.

“AI-linked companies are driving national stock markets, influencing export economies, attracting sovereign capital and shaping institutional asset allocation decisions,” he said.

“The fact that one earnings report from California can trigger selling from Seoul to Silicon Valley within hours is an enormous wake-up call.”

Despite the volatility, he maintained a constructive long-term view on the sector, citing sustained corporate investment in computing infrastructure and ongoing government support for digital expansion.

However, Green warned that investors should expect further bouts of volatility as the AI-driven rally matures and becomes more deeply embedded in global indices.

“This massive sell-off underscores that markets are beginning to discover something much bigger: AI is now macro, and what happens in AI no longer stays in AI,” he said.