The Nikkei, in Tokyo, and the Kospi, in Seoul, end the week with a plunge of 6%, in the wake of the Nasdaq

The Nikkei, the flagship index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, and the Kospi, in Seoul, ended the week with a plunge of around 6%, in the wake of the collapse of Wall Street, against a backdrop of concerns after the results of the American elections which could slow down investments in data centers dedicated to AI. The Nikkei concluded Friday's session with a drop of 5.96%, to 57,434 points. The Kospi fell by 6.02%.

The day before in New York, the Nasdaq, which brings together many technology stocks, had plunged 5.52%, its biggest fall since April 2025, when American President Donald Trump imposed customs duties on the entire world. The market analyzes the results of the “midterms” as a brake on the development of AI, while several newly elected Democrats campaigned to slow down the construction of data centers in their constituencies. In addition, residents of dozens of American cities adopted restrictions or bans on “data centers” on Tuesday. However, massive investments by tech giants in AI and the construction of data centers in the United States have been one of the main drivers of stock markets and American growth in recent years.

A total collapse of values

According to the Wall Street Journal, this disarray could force the American flagship of AI Anthropic, which plans to go public the week of November 16, to have to settle for a valuation lower than the 1,500 billion dollars it is currently targeting, or even postpone its introduction. According to MCH Market Insights analyst Michael Hewson, investors are selling due to "concerns that we may see increased opposition to AI development plans, and the results in Texas raise concerns that state politicians will target Tesla and Elon Musk's SpaceX because of its support for Trump." Semiconductor and electronic chip companies, essential elements for equipping data centers, are the main victims of the panic.

“The fear is a complete loss of momentum as Democrats lead the charge and put a halt to data center construction... it seems totally exaggerated, but the widespread selling momentum dominating this market means we have to wait for some stability first,” adds Neil Wilson, analyst for Saxo Markets. As for Donald Trump, he blamed the stock market panic on the Democrats. “The stock market collapsed today because the Dumocrats (a pejorative play on words used by Donald Trump to describe the Democrats, editor's note) had a great Tuesday - So sad to see, you only have yourselves to blame!”, he wrote on his social network Truth.