While there was no immediate trigger, analysts pointed to a confluence of factors, such as doubts over the lofty valuations of tech heavyweights and President Donald Trump's growing influence over the sector.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the government taking equity stakes in Intel as well as other chip companies in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act that was meant to spur factory-building around the country, sources told Reuters.
The move comes on the back of other unusual deals Washington has recently struck with U.S. companies, including allowing AI chip giant Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China in exchange for the U.S. government receiving 15% of those sales.
The government's intervention in corporate matters has worried critics who say Trump's actions create new categories of corporate risk and that a bad bet could mean a hit to taxpayer funds.
"This U.S. state/Presidential creep into tech, and the wider private sector, is unhealthy as it threatens to erode margins and dent demand/topline," said Mizuho's head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan Vishnu Varathan.
Asia's tech-heavy indexes in Taiwan and South Korea slid 2.6% and 1.7%, respectively, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures shed 0.7%. Nasdaq futures were down 0.5%.
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