Editorial Team
3 min read
Japan’s Nikkei falls more than 7% as AI stock selloff deepens
Japan’s Nikkei fell 7.09% in Friday morning trading, with AI, chip and data center-related shares hit hard after Wall Street losses. Reports linked the rout to fears of U.S. regulation following Democratic election victories, without identifying an enacted restriction or a cut in AI spending.
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 7.09% by 10:25 a.m. Friday; the broader Topix lost more than 6% in morning trading.
- Japanese AI, chip and data center-related shares followed steep U.S. technology-stock losses.
- The reported concern was future regulation and investment, with no enacted restriction or spending cut identified in the reports.
Japan’s Nikkei 225, a benchmark of 225 stocks on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime Market, fell more than 7% on November 6 as Japanese AI, chip and data center-related shares followed Wall Street lower. The index was down 7.09% at 10:25 a.m. Tokyo time, according to the morning trading report. These were intraday readings, not closing results.
The reports linked the selloff to fears that Democratic victories in the U.S. midterm elections would bring closer scrutiny of AI infrastructure and slow its expansion. The business risk underlying that concern is a potential reduction in demand for the chips and other equipment used in data centers.
The Nikkei’s reported decline deepened from 5.5% to 7.09% during Friday morning trading. These are intraday snapshots, not closing results. Source: Metrobank Wealth Insights.
Selling deepens after the opening
At 0018 GMT, or 9:18 a.m. in Tokyo, the Nikkei was down 5.5% at 57,713.19, while the Topix had lost 4.9%. The early trading report cautioned that most major chip and AI stocks, including Advantest and SoftBank Group, had yet to trade. It dated the start of the Japanese technology-stock rout to Wednesday, as U.S. election results emerged.
The later morning update said the Nikkei had fallen below 60,000 for the first time since May. It put losses among Japanese AI, chip and data center-related shares at 20% for Rohm, more than 19% for Furukawa Electric, 15% for Resonac, more than 12% for Kioxia and 11% for SoftBank Group. The Topix was down more than 6% in morning trading.
The Nikkei weights its constituents by adjusted share prices and selects them with regard to liquidity and sector balance, as its explains. The Tokyo Stock Price Index, or Topix, covers an extensive proportion of Japan’s stock market and uses . The declines therefore registered in two differently constructed benchmarks. Neither index reading, by itself, isolates the contribution of AI-related stocks.
