Oct 15, 2026 · 7 min
AI selloff exposes cracks in Asia’s tech trade
SK Hynix Plunges, Lenovo Sinks, TCS Rises
The episode connects falling Asian technology stocks with deeper questions about AI spending, leverage and the durability of the buildout.
- 1Foreign selling drove sharp declines in SK Hynix, Samsung and the broader KOSPI.
- 2Debt concerns around AI infrastructure widened the selloff to companies such as Lenovo.
- 3TCS and Indian IT stocks emerged as an anti-AI trade while smarter cities offered a longer-term counterpoint.
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TCS’s gains are presented as an anti-AI trade, turning a pullback in AI enthusiasm into a relative boost for Indian IT.
The brief
South Korea’s market becomes the episode’s pressure gauge as foreign investors sell SK Hynix and Samsung, pulling the KOSPI lower amid doubts about AI valuations.
The selling spreads beyond chipmakers: distress at AI cloud company CoreWeave raises questions about leverage, while infrastructure and technology names such as Lenovo also retreat.
TCS and other Indian IT stocks are framed as an anti-AI trade, gaining as investors reassess consulting’s prospects and the pace of enterprise AI spending.
The episode then shifts from market anxiety to urban ambition, examining how AI, long-term planning and Dubai’s growth are shaping smarter cities.
The central tension is whether AI’s infrastructure demands represent durable transformation or a leveraged investment cycle vulnerable to changing expectations.