TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average dropped as much as 3 percent on Friday, led by chip-related stocks, as concerns mounted over the sustainability of spending to fund the AI boom.
Tokyo tracked overnight losses on Wall Street, given additional impetus by late earnings from Amazon.com and Intel that showed massive cash burns, sending shares of those companies and their peers sharply lower in extended trading.
The Nikkei sank 2.1 percent to 63,290.11 as of the close of trading, after earlier slumping 3 percent, led lower by chip equipment heavyweights Advantest and Tokyo Electron, which dropped 5.9 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively.
Trading has been volatile this week as earnings reports from Japan, the US and South Korea triggered sharp swings in technology stocks.
For the week, the Nikkei managed to gain 1 percent.
By contrast, the broader Topix was down a milder 1 percent on Friday, but flat for the week. Along with Advantest and Tokyo Electron, other notable chip and AI losers included Ibiden, down 15.2 percent, Lasertec, down 8.8 percent, and SoftBank Group, down 6 percent.