Japan's Nikkei weighed down by AI stocks ahead of Nvidia earnings
NVDA•Nikkei slips as AI shares come under pressure
TOKYO, Aug. 24 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average slid on Monday, with artificial intelligence-related shares under pressure ahead of Nvidia NVDA.O earnings later in the week.
The market was also weighed down by inflation worries amid continued uncertainty in the Middle East, with investors and analysts expecting the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates at its next policy meeting in September.
The Nikkei .N225 ended the day down 0.7% at 65,528.09.
AI-related shares fall; chip tool makers outperform
Most AI-related shares, which tend to be heavily weighted on the Nikkei, declined, with Fujikura 5803.T losing 5%, Advantest 6857.T dropping 3.9% and SoftBank Group 9984.T slipping 5.3%.
Chip-making tool manufacturers outperformed, though, with Tokyo Electron 8035.T rising 1.6%.
The broader Topix .TOPX inched up 0.2%.
Regional weakness and Nvidia pricing report add pressure
AI shares slumped in other Asian markets as well, with South Korea's Samsung Electronics 005930.KS tumbling around 9% to lead the KOSPI .KS11 3.1% lower. China's Alibaba 9988.HK plunged as much as 10.5% after launching a $10 billion share placement.
U.S.-based Nvidia has notified some of its largest customers that AI server prices will rise by more than 15% amid soaring memory costs, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. The company announces financial results on Wednesday.
"We view the concerns over the profitability of semiconductor-related companies — led by Nvidia — as little more than a pretext or trigger for selling" following "a significant build-up of open positions in margin trading recently", said Wataru Akiyama, an equities strategist at Nomura Securities.
