CNBC reported that Asian chip stocks fell again on Thursday, following losses on Wall Street. SK Hynix dropped more than 10%, and Samsung Electronics lost 7.1%. In Japan, SoftBank Group fell 7.9%, Advantest 6.9%, and Tokyo Electron and Renesas 5.4% each. On Wednesday, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.88% in the US. CNBC said hotter-than-expected inflation data had raised fears that the Federal Reserve could lift interest rates further.
CNBC said investors worry that higher borrowing costs could hold back the huge spending needed for AI infrastructure. It reported that the chief executives of Broadcom and Intel warned on Monday that funding could become a major drag. Broadcom's Hock Tan called it a bigger challenge than shortages of chips or power. Analyst Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives said demand for AI computing remains strong. He named cuts to cloud giants' spending plans, canceled contracts, or falling GPU rental prices as signs that would change his view. CNBC's report does not say whether any of those has happened.
For teams that build or buy AI systems, the cost of money now shapes the cost and pace of new computing capacity. Two chief executives in the industry say funding may limit how fast AI grows.