Shares in companies heavily invested in artificial intelligence, or those producing AI-related hardware, saw substantial drops on September 14, 2026. This market downturn was triggered by warnings from prominent AI leaders, including Anthropic PBC CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman, who advocated for a deceleration in AI development to address potential safety risks such as "recursive self-improvement." Amodei specifically urged the industry to "pace the frontier" of AI innovation. Elon Musk of xAI publicly supported Amodei's stance, stating, "Dario is right.
SoftBank Group Corp., a major investor in OpenAI with planned total investments reaching close to $65 billion by October, saw its shares plummet by as much as 13% in Tokyo, marking its steepest decline in nearly three months. Other key players in the AI sector were also hit hard: South Korea's KOSPI index fell by 3.7%, with chipmaker SK Hynix slumping by 5.75% and Samsung also sharply lower. In Taipei, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) dropped by 1.2%. Japanese chipmakers Kioxia and Advantest shed more than 7% and 2% respectively.
The market's anxieties were compounded by broader economic pressures. Oil prices surged after Saudi Arabia closed a crucial pipeline, while persistent US inflation data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve would implement an interest rate hike. Analysts like Chris Weston from Pepperstone noted that the swaps market implied a 92% probability of a Fed rate hike this week, with 50 basis points of cumulative tightening anticipated by year-end. This confluence of factors led to widespread equity market losses across Asia, affecting major indices in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Manila, in addition to Seoul and Taipei. Despite pushback from US President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson against panicking, traders divested from tech holdings.
