SoftBank shares slide over 8% amid renewed pressure on AI-linked stocks

Shares of Japan’s SoftBank Group resumed their slide on Friday, following a broader slump in AI-related stocks as investors once again grew wary of the sector’s lofty valuations.

The group, which holds a wide range of AI investments across infrastructure, semiconductor, and application companies, saw shares drop more than 8%.

This comes after SoftBank gained nearly 3% in the previous session, having plunged 10% on Wednesday to clock its worst day since April.

Other Japanese tech stocks also declined. Semiconductor testing equipment maker Advantest dropped over 6%, chipmaker Renesas Electronics fell nearly 4%, Tokyo Electron, a chip production equipment maker, declined 1.46%.

SoftBank holds a controlling stake in U.K.-based semiconductor designer Arm Holdings, whose chips help power mobile and AI processors globally. Shares of Nasdaq-listed Arm slid 1.21% overnight.

Shares of the world’s largest chipmaker, TSMC, fell 0.6%.

Nvidia-supplier SK Hynix was down over 1% and South Korean peer and memory chipmaker Samsung fell 0.5%.

Separately, SoftBank considered acquiring U.S. chipmaker Marvell Technology Inc. earlier this year, Bloomberg recently reported citing people familiar with the matter.

The declines in Asian tech stocks also come after AI-related companies in the U.S. fell overnight

Qualcomm dropped almost 4%, despite strong quarterly results, after warning it could lose future Apple business. AMD, a strong performer Wednesday, slipped 7%, while Palantir and Oracle were down about 7% and 3%, respectively. Nvidia and Meta Platforms also finished lower.

The excitement surrounding AI has raised worries that markets might be experiencing a tech bubble. Some experts argue that the valuations of AI companies are starting to resemble the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, with stock prices rising well beyond realistic profit forecasts.

The economic impact of artificial intelligence is undeniable and market bumps are inevitable, said Laura Cooper, global investment strategist at Nuveen.

“Still, it’s too soon to call a bubble. Today’s AI capex is being funded largely by cash-rich firms with solid balance sheets, not cheap credit or speculation,” she said. “The greater risk isn’t a bubble bursting, but valuation fatigue — investors tiring of paying ever-richer premiums for AI returns that don’t materialize quickly enough.”