TOKYO: Japanese tech stocks fell on Tuesday ( Jan 28 ) following a plunge in US tech stocks  , driven by the emergence of a low-cost Chinese generative AI model.
Nvidia, a US chipmaker, drew a retreat on Wall Street, dropping nearly 17 % amid concerns that DeepSeek’s robot could threaten US supremacy in artificial intelligence. Nvidia investment was up significantly in after-hours investing.
The Nasdaq’s heavyweight chip-related stocks miraculously dropped, but Topix’s earlier losses were offset by gains in bank shares.
The Nikkei ended the night conference down 0.57 per share at 39, 340.15, after falling as much as 1.7 per share earlier in the session.
The broader Topix was up 0.45 per share at 2, 770.5.
Nvidia supplier Advantest’s decline on Tuesday in Tokyo was down nearly 10 %, causing Nikkei the most.  ,
There were additional goes for AI-backer SoftBank Group, which fell 4.71 per share, and data-centre cable manufacturer Furukawa Electric was down 8 per cent.
Both had already experienced significant declines on Monday, with Furukawa and SoftBank both down 20 % and SoftBank down 13 % after two days.
Chip-making equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron fell 3.78 per cent.
Taiwan and South Korea’s tech-heavy businesses were closed for the holidays. Hong Kong commerce ends at noon, and industry in China were closed as well to usher in the Foreign New Year.
AUSTRALIA’S Artificial SHARES Hit
Companies in Australia fell sharply on Tuesday as investors feared DeepSeek may harm the supremacy of the country’s top industry players.
Shares of AI technology firm Appen fell 3.3 per cent, while AI intel Brainchip lost 10.3 per share by 0029GMT. The tech sub-index was down 1 per share.
Data centre tenants in Australia- Goodman Group, NEXTDC and DigiCo Infrastructure REIT- tumbled 6.4 per share, 6.2 per share and 11.1 per cent between, as DeepSeek’s type sparked concerns of lowered spending on infrastructure.
Last year, the AI growth caused a violent demand, with companies like Nvidia investing billions to expand capacity in Australia’s data center market.