Overview
- The sell-off, which peaked on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, pushed South Korea’s Kospi about 10% lower and triggered a 20-minute bourse-wide trading halt after Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell double digits.
- The rout began with heavy losses in major U.S. tech names that spilled into Asia and deepened pressure on chip and memory stocks that had led the 2026 rally.
- Market participants and South Korean officials pointed to profit-taking, record retail margin borrowing and newly approved leveraged single-stock products as factors that magnified the move.
- Investors are now watching Micron Technology’s quarterly results as the main near-term signal of whether AI-driven memory demand can sustain recent valuations.
- SpaceX’s post-IPO slide and reports it plans a large bond sale added to funding concerns for high-spending AI players, while lower oil prices followed a U.S. 60-day waiver for Iranian exports.