Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.72%

Investing.com-- Samsung Electronics (KS:005930)plans to end production of budget solid-state drives used primarily in consumer electronics in the coming year, a popular tech leaker said, as it switches focus to supplying the artificial intelligence industry. 

Youtuber Moore’s Law is Dead, known for leaking information on consumer electronics, said in a weekend video that Samsung could announce as soon as January that it plans to end production of Serial ATA solid state drives (SATA SSD) in the coming years. 

The move comes as Samsung shifts focus to more premium and high-margin chips, with a bulk of production to be aimed at meeting demands for high-bandwith memory (HBM) in the AI industry. 

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SATA SSDs are a relatively budget class of memory drives that are used in consumer electronics. While SATA is largely outclassed by Non-Volatile Memory Express SSDs, the former is still popular as a cheaper alternative in consumer electronics. 

Moore’s Law is Dead warned that an end to SATA SSD production was likely to drive up memory prices across the board in the coming year, with supply coming under pressure from outsized AI demand. 

Samsung did not immediately respond to a mailed request for comment. 

Samsung and SK Hynix were seen increasing their memory chip prices in recent months, stating that current production levels were unable to keep up with AI-fueled demand for memory and processing units.

HBM is a key component of the high-end chips used in AI servers. Both Samsung and SK Hynix supply HBM to NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), which currently makes the most advanced AI chips in the market. 

The Samsung leak also comes just a week after U.S. memory chip giant Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) said it will exit its Crucial consumer business in order to redirect supply to the AI industry. 

AI’s growing appetite for memory is expected to disrupt consumer electronics production in the coming year. Lenovo Group (HK:0992), the world’s largest PC maker, recently flagged headwinds from rising memory prices, as did Dell Technologies Inc (NYSE:DELL), with both companies warning that prices were likely to increase in the coming months.

Concerns over AI exposure also weighed on tech valuations in recent weeks, amid questions over just how and when major AI spenders planned to turn a profit on their massive investments.

Samsung shares fell 3.5% on Monday, and were among the top weights on the KOSPI, which sank more than 1%. Rival memory chip developer SK Hynix Inc (KS:000660) also fell 3%, amid a broader rout in stocks with artificial intelligence exposure. 

Investing.com-- Asian technology and chipmaking stocks tumbled on Monday as investor caution deepened over uncertainties in the artificial intelligence sector and its impact on future earnings.

Chipmakers were under pressure after a string of results and guidance in the U.S. reinforced concerns about aggressive AI spending and margin sustainability.

Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) shares sank last week after the company warned of narrower margins despite strong AI chip demand, intensifying unease about cost inflation in the AI hardware space. 

Before this, Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) flagged weak guidance and higher expenses tied to aggressive AI spending, intensifying investor skepticism about how Wall Street’s tech giants will generate returns on massive AI investments.

In Asia, South Korean shares led the decline, with Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) and SK Hynix (KS:000660) both declining nearly 4%.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) (TW:2330) shares traded 2% lower.

Japan’s Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) slipped 6%, while SoftBank Group (TYO:9984) shares tumbled over 7%.

Hong Kong-listed Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (HK:0981) shares fell 2.5%, while Hua Hong Semiconductor (HK:1347) declined more than 5%.

China’s Alibaba Group (HK:9988), Baidu Inc (HK:9888), and Xiaomi Corp (HK:1810) fell in the range of 2% to 4%.

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks fell on Monday, pressured by deep losses in technology shares as weak guidance from U.S. firms left investors fretting over stretched artificial intelligence-fueled valuations.

Chinese shares fell relatively less than their regional peers. But a swathe of weak economic readings, coupled with persistent concerns over a real estate meltdown, kept investors largely cautious towards mainland and Hong Kong markets.

Asian markets took weak cues from Wall Street, which tumbled on Friday on a slide in tech shares. Middling guidance from AI-linked stocks Broadcom and Oracle were a key point of concern, as investors second-guessed an AI-fueled boom in tech valuations.

S&P 500 Futures rose 0.3% by 21:17 ET (02:17 GMT), with focus this week squarely on U.S. consumer price index inflation data for November.

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China muted after weak Nov data; property meltdown in focus

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes fell about 0.1% each, losing relatively less than their regional peers on less exposure to the global AI trade.

But mainland markets were still pressured by concerns over slowing economic growth, especially following a host of weak readings for November. 

Chinese industrial production and retail sales grew less than expected in October, while fixed asset investment– a key gauge of business spending– shrank at an outsized pace.

The prints raised more doubts over slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy, and likely put more pressure on Beijing to dole out economic stimulus.

Concerns over a debt crisis in China’s property market also remained in play, especially after state-backed developer China Vanke Co Ltd (HK:2202) failed to win debtholder approval to delay payments on an onshore bond maturing on December 15.

Vanke slid 2.4% in Shenzhen trade, while other real estate stocks also fell.

Asia tech slides tracking US losses

Tech-heavy Asian bourses were the worst performers on Monday, with South Korea’s KOSPI down 1.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively.

Tech shares tracked deep Friday losses in their U.S. peers, after middling margin guidance from AI server chips maker Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) sparked losses across the sector.

Broadcom’s guidance came just shortly after cloud computing major Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) flagged weak guidance and higher expenses, adding to doubts over just how Wall Street’s tech giants planned to earn a return on their massive investment in AI.

Broader Asian bourses largely retreated, although there were some pockets of strength. Japan’s TOPIX index, which has a relatively smaller weightage of tech shares, rose 0.1% after a survey showed capital spending among major manufacturers remained strong. Focus this week is also on a Bank of Japan meeting.

Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.5%, with local markets rattled by a shooting at Bondi Beach that killed 15 over the weekend.

Singapore’s Straits Times index fell 0.3%, while futures for India’s Nifty 50 index added 0.2%, after the index rose on Friday following another benign CPI inflation print.

Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures were a mixed bag on Sunday evening, with investors remaining skittish towards technology stocks after middling guidance from Broadcom spurred increased concerns over the artificial intelligence trade. 

Focus this week is squarely on key consumer price index inflation data for November, which is likely to factor into the outlook for interest rates. 

Futures mostly retreated after a negative Friday session on Wall Street, where tech shares were sold off across the board. Chipmakers, including AI major Nvidia, also logged deep losses. 

On Sunday, S&P 500 Futures were flat at 6,830.0 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell nearly 0.2% to 25,174.50 points by 18:47 ET (23:47 GMT). Dow Jones Futures rose 0.1% to 48,525.0 points. 

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Broadcom, Oracle outlook sour AI trade, dent tech shares

Weak guidance from Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) and Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) sparked increased doubts over the AI trade last week, and kept investors largely negative towards tech shares. 

Broadcom slumped 11.4% on Friday after the AI server chips maker flagged some softness in margins in the current quarter. The company also signaled that it did not expect any returns from a major data center deal with OpenAI until at least 2027. 

Broadcom’s losses came just a day after downbeat guidance from cloud computing giant Oracle. The latter slid over 12% last week after its guidance for the current quarter underwhelmed, while investors were spooked by the company’s outsized spending on AI data centers and technology.

Oracle’s deal with OpenAI also spurred uncertainty, given that the AI startup accounts for a large portion of the company’s future revenue commitments. 

Broadcom and Oracle largely soured sentiment towards tech and AI stocks, sparking steep losses in the sector last week. Market darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) lost over 4% last, leading losses across Wall Street’s “Magnificent 7” stocks. 

The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 6,827.41 points on Friday. The NASDAQ Composite slid 1.7% to 23,195.17 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5% to 48,458.05 points. 

Still, losses in non-tech sectors helped limit overall weekly declines on Wall Street, especially as markets welcomed dovish-leaning commentary from the Federal Reserve.

November CPI data awaited for more rate cues 

Focus this week is largely on consumer price index inflation data for November, which is due on Thursday. 

Any signs of a further cooling in inflation are likely to drive up bets on more interest rate cuts by the Fed. The central bank had last week cut interest rates as expected, and reiterated its messaging that future rate decisions will depend largely on the path of the U.S. economy. 

But the Fed also said it will begin buying short-dated Treasuries at a pace of $40 billion per month, presenting a dovish outlook for monetary policy going into 2026.