True
SEOUL โ A growing argument that the AI boom is set to decelerate triggered a steep selloff in semiconductor shares, dragging South Korea's benchmark KOSPI down 3.26% into the 6600 range and marking a sharp setback for the market's most AI-sensitive sector.
The selling was concentrated in semiconductors, the pillar of the Korean equity market and the clearest local proxy for global AI sentiment. As the "AI speed-adjustment" narrative โ the view that the breakneck pace of AI investment and adoption is due to moderate โ gained traction, the sector's heavyweight names, including Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, came under sustained pressure. The index finished the session in the 6600 band after the 3.26% decline, a rare single-day pullback of that magnitude for the benchmark.
The chronology is straightforward: AI slowdown talk spread, semiconductor stocks plunged, and the KOSPI followed them down. What deserves caution is the implied causation. A benchmark decline of this size seldom stems from a single driver, and while the AI deceleration argument supplied the dominant storyline of the session, reading it as the sole cause would overstate the frame. The verified record supports a narrower account โ a semiconductor-led 3.26% drop into the 6600 range at a moment when doubts about the durability of AI's momentum dominated market conversation, with no factual error in the claim itself. On those cross-checked facts, the verdict is True.