Asian Tech Stocks Decline Amid Tariff Concerns

Asian technology and semiconductor stocks faced notable declines on Tuesday following U.S. President Donald Trump's reaffirmation of tariffs against Mexico and Canada, as well as additional tariffs on China. Trump stated that the U.S. would impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, making it clear that there was "no room left for negotiation" regarding these tariffs. Additionally, he announced a further 10% tariff on Chinese imports, on top of the 10% tariffs already in place since February.

The market reaction to these developments was swift, with Asian tech stocks under pressure, particularly influenced by a significant 8.69% drop in Nvidia's shares overnight. Nvidia has been a standout performer in the artificial intelligence sector, making its decline particularly impactful.

Japanese semiconductor equipment manufacturer Advantest saw its stock plunge about 9%, hitting its lowest point since October of the previous year. Other companies in the semiconductor space, such as Renesas Electronics, lost around 6.35% of their value.

In the tech investment realm, SoftBank Group experienced a drop of 6.25%. This comes as CEO Masayoshi Son is reported to be seeking to borrow $16 billion to invest in artificial intelligence technologies.

Across the Korean market, SK Hynix shares fell by as much as 3.26%. Conversely, Samsung Electronics managed to buck the negative trend, rising nearly 1% following the launch of its new Galaxy A series smartphones featuring AI capabilities.

Chinese tech stocks were also dragged down, with notable declines in companies like Alibaba and Kingsoft Cloud, which fell as much as 2.23% and 8.46%, respectively. The shopping platform Meituan dropped by 0.62%, while electric vehicle manufacturer BYD saw a sharp decline of 6.60%. Other automakers like Xpeng and Li Auto also experienced losses of 1.97% and 2.68%, respectively.

In Hong Kong, shares of tech giant Tencent were trading 0.91% higher, showing some resilience in the current market climate.

In Taiwan, shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) fell over 2% after Trump highlighted TSMC's upcoming $100 billion investment in U.S. chip manufacturing, describing it as a "tremendous move" by one of the world's most influential companies.

Tech, Stocks, Tariffs