KOSPI circuit breaker trips; Qualcomm lands SpaceX deal

Chip shares fell hard in New York and Seoul over Nov 4-5 after Democrats’ sweeping wins in the U.S. midterm elections. Qualcomm and TSMC made news with deals of their own over the same two days.

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A circuit breaker halts Seoul as chip shares tumble

South Korea’s KOSPI ended Thursday, Nov 5, at 5,383.80, a drop of 5.28%. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the combined market capitalization of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix shrank by roughly 200 trillion won over the session.

The fall in chip shares was steep enough to set off the KOSPI’s circuit breaker, The Chosun Daily reported at 11:15 KST. A circuit breaker is an automatic pause in trading after a sharp fall. The index had opened the day at 5,580.09, according to the Korea Times.

The Korea Times, The Chosun Daily and Seoul Economic Daily all linked the slide to concern about the U.S. election result. Democrats won sweeping victories in the midterms, and the papers said investors fear tighter U.S. rules on AI and on building data centers.

Other outlets described the day in different ways. Bloomberg called it a post-election rotation, with Asian chipmakers dragged down and automakers pushed up. A later Bloomberg markets wrap said the shift went on as chipmakers lost more ground. The Financial Times said chipmakers led Asian stocks lower on the AI worries. MarketWatch reported that Asian chip shares did not all move the same way on the data center concerns. Reuters noted that oil fell along with chip stocks after the Democratic sweep.

The U.S. session before Seoul’s open was also weak for chips. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) lost 3.13% on Nov 4 to close at 10,268.65. In Tokyo on Nov 5, the Nikkei 225 dropped 1.79% to 61,077.90.

Qualcomm to equip SpaceX’s U.S. phone network

Qualcomm has signed on to supply 5G network equipment for Starlink Mobile, SpaceX’s mobile network in the U.S. The deal was announced on Nov 4, and Reuters described it as a major one. 5G is the current generation of mobile network technology.

According to Bloomberg, Qualcomm will build the gear for SpaceX’s U.S. mobile phone network. Bloomberg framed the agreement as SpaceX pressing its challenge to established U.S. mobile carriers. Barron’s looked at what the Starlink Mobile rollout with Qualcomm means for investors who hold shares in telecom carriers.

Qualcomm stock closed the Nov 4 regular session at US$173.19, up 5.33% from its Nov 3 close. That gain came in the same session in which the SOX fell.

TSMC’s AUO plant deal stirs the TV panel market, DigiTimes says

TSMC is buying the second AUO Corp. plant in Taichung, paying NT$38.8 billion before tax, or about US$1.2 billion, DigiTimes reported. AUO makes display panels, and the deal moves one of its Taiwan sites to the world’s largest contract chipmaker.

The sale is having knock-on effects beyond TSMC. DigiTimes reported on Nov 4 that the purchase is setting off a realignment in how LCD TV panels are supplied around the world.

In Taipei on Nov 4, TSMC shares closed at NT$2,260, down 1.53% from NT$2,295 a session earlier. The TAIEX, Taiwan’s main share index, fell 0.83% in the same session.

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Information only, not investment advice.