Tech sell-off deepens as inflation fears rattle global markets

Shares in companies linked to artificial intelligence fell sharply on Oct. 15, 2026, as investors worried about rising inflation in the United States, the prospect of higher interest rates and heavy borrowing in the AI sector, The Guardian reported.

South Korea bore the heaviest losses. The Kospi 200 index closed down 8.1% at a six-month closing low, with circuit breakers, automatic pauses triggered by steep falls, halting trading at several points. The smaller-company Kosdaq index fell more than 8%, and trading on both markets was halted on Thursday afternoon, according to Korea Economic Daily.

Chipmakers led the declines. SK Hynix shares plunged nearly 11% and Samsung Electronics fell 9.5%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 4.9%, with memory-chip maker Kioxia down 11% and technology investor SoftBank down 10%. In China, the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 slipped by as much as 2.4% to its lowest level since August 2025, while Taiwan’s TSMC fell 2% despite reporting its sixth straight quarter of profits.

The drop followed losses on Wall Street in the previous session, when the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.9% and the S&P 500 fell 1.1%, its worst performance since July. Trading in Nasdaq 100 futures, an early signal of market direction, pointed to further losses for U.S. technology stocks with a 1% decline. Credit markets wobbled while bonds rallied, Reuters reported.

The immediate trigger was fresh U.S. price data. Inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose to 3.7% in the year to September, up from 3.4% in the year to August and faster than expected. It was the quickest increase since the rate reached a three-year peak of 4.2% in May, The Guardian reported. The data, released on Oct. 14, showed consumer prices up 0.6% from the previous month, driven in part by a 9.1% surge in gasoline prices, according to Reuters and CNBC.

Concern about AI valuations had been building. The International Monetary Fund warned in the week of Oct. 13 that the threat of a crash in AI share prices spreading across global markets was putting world financial stability at risk. Two days earlier, Reuters had described a sell-off in shares of AI suppliers as the strongest sign to date that sentiment toward AI investments was shifting.