The won weakened rapidly in morning trade, with the dollar rising to 1,454.8 won as of 10:20 a.m. in Seoul. The breaches of the 1,450 level have typically coincided with extraordinary events — including the presidential impeachment in April, the martial law crisis in December, and stress periods following the 2009 global financial crisis.
The currency’s slide came alongside a broad selloff in equities. The KOSPI dropped 2 percent, falling back below the 4,000 mark, while the KOSDAQ slipped under 900, reflecting deteriorating sentiment across risk assets.
The downturn followed steep losses in the United States, where all three major indices declined on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 1.12 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 1.9 percent to 23,053.99, weighed down by a pullback in semiconductor and AI-linked names.
Nvidia lost 3.7 percent, AMD slumped 7.3 percent and Palantir shed 6.8 percent. Qualcomm retreated 3.6 percent despite reporting stronger-than-expected earnings, amid speculation that Apple could reduce future chip orders.
Investor nerves were further rattled after David Sacks, the White House’s AI policy chief and colloquially known as the administration’s “AI czar,” posted on X that there would be “no federal bailout for AI.” His comment fueled worries that the sector may not receive government support if market volatility deepens.
Adding to the unease, new labor data pointed to rising job losses tied to restructuring across the tech sector.
According to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, U.S. employers cut 153,074 positions in October, marking the largest October layoffs since 2003. So far this year, 218 technology companies have eliminated more than 112,000 jobs, including staff reductions at Intel, Microsoft and Amazon. Nearly 300,000 public-sector workers have also been laid off.
Tesla, which closed down 3.5 percent at $445.91 on Thursday, rose more than 2 percent in after-hours trading after shareholders approved CEO Elon Musk’s long-debated compensation package. The plan could award Musk stock options worth up to $1 trillion if Tesla meets a set of market-value and operational milestones totaling $8.5 trillion.
Still, the relief did not extend to Korean battery suppliers with exposure to Tesla.
Samsung SDI slid 4.2 percent to 308,500 won, Ecopro dropped 2.9 percent, Ecopro BM declined 3.3 percent and LG Energy Solution shed 1.3 percent. Analysts said lingering fears over an AI-driven bubble overshadowed any optimism from Tesla’s governance developments.
Markets elsewhere in Asia also retreated.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.5 percent to 50,117.88, with Toyota down 0.9 percent and Sony 1.6 percent lower. AI- and chip-equipment names bore the heaviest losses, with Advantest tumbling 5.9 percent and SoftBank dropping 7.9 percent.
SoftBank briefly plunged more than 8 percent in morning trade, erasing most of Thursday’s rebound after a volatile week in which shares fell 10 percent on Wednesday, rose 3 percent Thursday and then reversed sharply again.
In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent to 4,000.62, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.7 percent to 26,314.37, extending weakness from the previous session.
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