Chip stocks in Asia tumbled on Thursday, tracking a heavy selloff on Wall Street spurred by a news report that the United States was mulling tighter curbs on exports of advanced semiconductor technology to China.
Among the worst hit were shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, which has shed roughly T$2 trillion ($61.35 billion) in market value over two days.
TSMC, which reports earnings later on Thursday, has taken a double hit this week from reports of the US curbs as well as remarks from US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that Taiwan should pay America for its defence.
TSMC fell more than 3 per cent, joining other technology behemoths such as South Korea’s major chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which were down 1.85 per cent and 4.1 per cent, respectively, and Japan’s Tokyo Electron, which slumped more than 8 per cent.
The Global X Asia Semiconductor ETF was down 2.7 per cent, reducing gains for the year to 13.5 per cent.
The Bloomberg News report published during Asian trading hours on Wednesday said President Joe Biden’s administration was weighing a measure called the foreign direct product rule that allows the US government to stop a product from being sold if it was made using American technology.
The article originally appeared on Business Standard.