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Anthropic Tells Investors Q3 Revenue Hit $16.8B Ahead of November IPOSeoul stocks sink 6.7% as AI spending and U.S. inflation worries hit chip sharesQwen Office Launches E-Commerce Edition, Targeting Enterprise Agent MarketFlock CEO Defends Surveillance Technology Amid Backlash, Says ‘We Shouldn’t Pause Progress’Gudea pitches AI 'storm tracker' to spot social media crises before they eruptApple Intelligence Nears China Launch as ASML Expands AI Capacity
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Seoul Stocks Plunge as AI Doubts and U.S. Inflation Fears Trigger Sidecar, Circuit Breaker

Seoul shares opened sharply lower Thursday, prompting a sell-side sidecar and later a 20-minute circuit breaker as investors dumped semiconductor shares over AI sustainability doubts and hotter U.S. inflation.

AI News Feed · 2026-10-15 14:13

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) opened down 335.8 points, or 5.59 percent, at 5,673.01. The opening extended a losing streak to six consecutive sessions.

The Korea Exchange activated a sell-side sidecar at 9:08 a.m., suspending program trading for KOSPI-listed shares for five minutes. By 9:11 a.m., the KOSPI had lost 303.39 points, or 5.05 percent, to 5,705.42. Investors sold semiconductor shares including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix as skepticism over the AI trade continued.

The sell-off followed losses on Wall Street overnight. The S&P 500 shed 1.11 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 1.88 percent. U.S. consumer prices rose 0.6 percent in September from a month earlier, bringing the annual inflation rate to 3.7 percent, above economists' expectations for a 3.6 percent increase. Investors also remained skeptical about whether AI investment could generate expected returns, according to Yonhap.

Later Thursday, the bourse operator activated a circuit breaker for the KOSPI on an extended sell-off in tech shares. Trading of KOSPI-listed shares was halted for 20 minutes from 12:38 p.m., as the index plunged more than 8 percent from the previous session's close. It marked the ninth time this year that the Korea Exchange has activated a circuit breaker.

Editor's Summary

Seoul stocks opened sharply lower on Oct. 15, triggering a sell-side sidecar and later a 20-minute circuit breaker as semiconductor shares fell. The decline followed overnight losses on Wall Street, higher-than-expected U.S. inflation, and doubts about AI investment returns. It was the ninth circuit breaker for the Korea Exchange this year.