Chip sell-off spreads to Asia after hot US inflation data

US stocks fell on Wednesday, Oct. 14, after a hotter-than-expected September inflation report increased bets that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again. Chipmakers and companies tied to AI infrastructure took the heaviest losses. The S&P 500 fell 1.11% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.88%, according to Seoul Economic Daily. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index PHLX Semiconductor Index ↘ 0.88% lost 4.3%, leaving it more than 20% below its June peak, The New York Times ↗ 2.67% reported.cnn.com+1

The losses spread to Asia on Thursday. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix ↘ 0.98% each fell more than 5%, and South Korea's Kospi dropped as much as 5.7%, Bloomberg reported.swissinfo.ch

Inflation tops forecasts

Consumer prices rose 0.6% from August, the largest monthly gain since April, and 3.7% from a year earlier, above the 3.6% economists expected. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.3% for the month and 2.6% for the year, both above forecasts, Seoul Economic Daily reported. Higher fuel costs drove most of the increase, Bloomberg's markets wrap said.swissinfo.ch+1

After the report, traders put a 32.7% chance on a rate hike at the Fed's Oct. 27–28 meeting, up from 22.1% a day earlier, according to the CME ↗ 1.36% FedWatch tool cited by Seoul Economic Daily. The semiconductor index fell for a sixth straight session, its longest losing streak since May 2025, Bloomberg noted.en.sedaily.com+1

AI debt worries deepen

Nvidia ↘ 1.84% closed down more than 3%. Oracle ↗ 3.00% fell 8.8% and Dell ↘ 6.80% lost 11.3%, CNN reported. CNN said rising bond yields are making data-center expansion more expensive. AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. ↘ 1.50% dropped 5.73% and Micron ↗ 1.87% fell 4.08%. The Financial Times said investor enthusiasm for AI was cooling.cnn.com+3

CoreWeave ↗ 5.94% fell about 15% after yields on its bonds neared levels usually seen in distressed debt, Reuters reported. The company's 2026 bonds fell to 77 cents on the dollar, The New York Times said. In a memo to staff, Chief Executive Mike Intrator said its deal backlog more than covers its debt, according to Bloomberg.nytimes.com+2

TSMC results next

Investors are now looking to quarterly results due Thursday from TSMC Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited ↘ 1.80%, where profit is expected to rise 60%, Yahoo Finance reported. The sell-off also pushed the Russell 2000 into a correction.finance.yahoo.com+1

"When you are building a new type of technology company, there will be periods of time when the market misunderstands and acts irrationally," Intrator wrote, as quoted by Reuters.reuters.com