US tech stocks fall after big AI groups call for slowdown

Global markets opened the week with a sharp sell-off in AI-linked equities as investors weighed fresh warnings from the technology industry’s most prominent leaders about the pace and risks of artificial intelligence development. The move followed a weekend essay from Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei calling on leading AI companies to coordinate with one another to manage the pace of development and promote safety, a position that drew public agreement from OpenAI’s Sam Altman and SpaceX’s Elon Musk.

The market response was immediate and broad. SoftBank, which owns roughly 13 per cent of OpenAI, fell as much as 13 per cent in Tokyo trading. South Korea’s Kospi index, which is heavily weighted toward chipmakers that supply AI companies, declined 2.4 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.1 per cent. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 pointed to a 1.2 per cent decline at the US open.

Wee Khoon Chong, a senior strategist at BNY, described Amodei’s weekend announcement as the “ultimate shock for the sector,” a striking characterisation given how much of this year’s global equity rally has been built on AI enthusiasm.

Asian suppliers of the infrastructure underpinning the AI build-out have been among the biggest beneficiaries of that rally. The chipmaker-led indices of South Korea and Taiwan are both up roughly 60 per cent so far this year. Monday’s sell-off hit the memory-chip segment especially hard. Kioxia, which manufactures Nand memory chips, fell more than 6 per cent, while SK Hynix declined 4.3 per cent. Samsung Electronics dropped 2.5 per cent, and in Taiwan, TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, lost 0.8 per cent.

Hong Kong-listed Chinese AI start-ups also suffered. Shares of Z.AI and MiniMax slipped 7.4 per cent and 6.1 per cent respectively, although analysts attributed Z.AI’s decline in part to an additional equity and debt issuance announced over the weekend, a reminder that not every move in the sector is driven by the same macro forces.

The episode marks a notable shift in sentiment for a trade that has rewarded investors handsomely all year. The coordinated call from Amodei, Altman, and Musk is significant not only because of the individuals involved, but because it signals that even the companies best positioned to benefit from rapid AI deployment recognise the potential for serious downside. Whether the motivation is genuine concern over existential risk, a desire to shape forthcoming regulation, or a combination of both, the public alignment of the industry’s leading figures on the need for a slowdown changes the narrative.

For investors, the immediate question is whether this represents a temporary wobble or the beginning of a more sustained repricing. The AI trade has been built on expectations of exponential growth in computing capacity, data centre spending, and chip demand. A coordinated slowdown in development, however modest, would directly challenge those assumptions. Even the possibility of tighter regulation or more cautious deployment timelines could compress the valuations of companies that have been priced for uninterrupted expansion.

The reaction also highlights how concentrated the AI trade has become. A single essay from one chief executive, amplified by agreement from two others, was enough to move trillions of dollars in market capitalisation across three continents. That concentration is itself a risk, and Monday’s moves offer a reminder that the sector’s fortunes can turn quickly when the narrative shifts.

The takeaway for professional investors is straightforward. The AI era is not in doubt, but the path forward is no longer a simple story of accelerating adoption. The industry’s own leaders are now publicly debating the trade-offs between speed and safety, and markets will have to price that uncertainty. For now, the sell-off looks like a recalibration rather than a rout,