The Nikkei 225 Index fell 3.7% to around 62,500 on Tuesday, while the broader Topix Index lost 2.3% to close at 3,973. The Nikkei slid to a two-month low as semiconductor and other technology shares came under renewed selling pressure.
The downturn followed a sharp overnight selloff in US chipmakers, driven by concerns that circular AI-related financing structures could unravel if major cloud providers (hyperscalers) cut back on capital expenditures.
Among the notable decliners were Kioxia Holdings (-2.6%), SoftBank Group (-4%), Advantest (-8.4%), Taiyo Yuden (-7.3%), and Tokyo Electron (-9.7%). Heavyweight financials also weakened, with Mitsubishi UFJ (-3.2%), Sumitomo Mitsui (-3%), and Mizuho Financial (-3.9%) recording significant losses.
At the same time, oil prices extended their decline after President Donald Trump said the United States had resumed negotiations with Iran aimed at ending the conflict in the Middle East.
