SoftBank Jumps 14% as Asian Chip Stocks Extend Rebound From Last Week's AI Sell-Off

By early afternoon the Nikkei 225 was up 2.88 per cent at 60,471.05 and the broader Topix had gained 2.27 per cent to 3,904.67, according to the Emirates News Agency, with SoftBank up 14.38 per cent. Chip equipment makers followed: Tokyo Electron rose 5.66 per cent and Advantest 4.93 per cent. CNBC put Lasertec up 6.74 per cent and Disco up 6.01 per cent in earlier trade, while memory maker Kioxia gained more than 7 per cent, according to investingLive.

The moves matter because last week's rout was driven by a specific fear: that the Democrats' sweeping win in the US midterm elections could bring tighter restrictions on data-centre development, cutting demand for AI chips and the equipment used to make them. Investors have also been questioning how quickly the heavy capital spending on AI infrastructure will produce profits. The Nikkei fell nearly 6 per cent on Friday, and the gains on Monday and Tuesday have recovered most of that loss.

SoftBank, one of OpenAI's largest investors, has been among the most volatile names through the swings, and the size of its move varied through the session, from about 11 per cent in early trade to more than 14 per cent by the afternoon.

In South Korea, the Kospi rose more than 4 per cent to around 5,240 and the tech-heavy Kosdaq gained nearly 4 per cent, investingLive reported. SK Hynix rose about 6 per cent and Samsung Electronics about 5 per cent, while Samsung SDI was up 6.87 per cent in CNBC's earlier tally. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines each rallied more than 11 per cent as lower oil prices eased fuel-cost pressure. Elsewhere the gains were smaller: TSMC added 0.45 per cent in Taipei, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose about 0.5 per cent and the Shanghai index about 0.3 per cent.

The lead came from New York, where nine of the S&P 500's 11 major sectors gained more than 1 per cent on Monday as a fall in oil prices eased inflation concerns. The S&P 500 rose 2.34 per cent to 7,549.83, its best day since April 8, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.73 per cent to 25,250.55. Nvidia was the exception, falling 4.2 per cent as its board investigates chief executive Jensen Huang's ties to a woman US officials reportedly believed was working for Chinese intelligence. A Tokyo-based strategist quoted by investingLive treated Nvidia's drop as a company-specific problem rather than a sector-wide one.

Oil continued to slide in Asian trading, with Brent near $92 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate near $86 on hopes of an end to the US-Iran war.

Not everyone is convinced the sell-off is over. "This is not to suggest that the tech sell-off is done and dusted," David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, told CNBC, adding that while there is some evidence of investors buying the dip in chip and AI-adjacent stocks, doing so may be "a little bit premature." One strategist said investors were reluctant to push the Nikkei above 61,000.

The next test comes later on Tuesday, when US consumer price data for October are due.