Asian equities slid after a strong Democratic showing in the US midterms raised
investor fears of tighter AI regulation. Korea's KOSPI fell as much as 3.7%,
erasing earlier gains; Samsung Electronics dropped over 4% and SK Hynix nearly
6%, the biggest drags on the index. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell about 4% intraday
and Taiwan's TAIEX lost roughly 2.6%. Market participants said stronger
Democratic performance could be negative for high-growth tech and AI firms and
may hinder US data-center expansion, clouding demand prospects for Korean,
Taiwanese and Japanese chipmakers and hardware suppliers integral to US AI
infrastructure.
