Global Markets-Stocks sink as chip rout deepens, oil set for weekly gain

A brutal selloff in chipmakers rippled through global markets on Friday, triggering a rout across Asia and setting up steep losses in Europe and the U.S. as investors abruptly reassessed the durability of the artificial intelligence-driven rally.

Investors fled risk across Asia, sending MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 2.7%, while the Nikkei tumbled more than 5%, leaving it down more than 13% from its recent peak.

Taiwan's stock market bore the brunt of the selloff, plunging more than 6% for its worst day since U.S. President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, while China's blue-chip index fell 4%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slid 2.5%, and a 5% drop in the Hang Seng Tech Index also marked its sharpest fall since April 2025.

The selloff came even as Taiwan's TSMC announced second-quarter profit that blew past forecasts and ASML, the world's dominant supplier of equipment needed to make high-tech computer chips, raised its 2026 sales forecasts earlier this week.