Shares of AI-related firms across Asian markets experienced notable declines on Monday after executives from leading artificial intelligence laboratories cautioned that advancement in the field should be slowed to address serious safety concerns.
This warning followed a call by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urging AI companies to rein in the rate of progress on advanced models, amid heightened worries about possible misuse. Industry leaders such as OpenAI’s Sam Altman and xAI’s Elon Musk agreed with Amodei’s concerns.
Investor reaction was swift, with Japan-listed SoftBank dropping as much as 13.2%. Memory chip maker Kioxia saw a 9.8% drop, while Tokyo Electron slipped 3.7%. In other markets, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was down 1.2%. SK Hynix lost 5.3%, and Samsung Electronics fell 3.7% in South Korea.
Shanghai-listed CXMT declined 2.7%, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation dropped 1.4%, Hong Kong’s Zhongji Innolight fell 4.1%, and Minimax lost 5.4%. Z.ai suffered a decline of up to 10.5%.
As for the Thai market, major electronics players also see downward sentiment, with Delta Electronics (Thailand) (SET: DELTA), Hana Microelectronics (SET: HANA), and KCE Electronics (SET: KCE) all exhibiting a slump of 3.41%, 1.00%, and 0.76%, respectively.
Analysts attributed the selloff in AI and semiconductor equities to market unease following high-profile statements urging a cautious approach to AI development. Ongoing geopolitical tensions, particularly in the Middle East, were also cited as factors weighing on risk appetite.
Anthropic released a threat intelligence report showing that malicious actors have harnessed its Claude AI system for activities such as weapons development, cyberattacks, surveillance, and fraud. One of the company’s researchers, Jacob Coxon, resigned and publicly warned that those building AI believe in the possibility of catastrophic outcomes for humanity within this decade.
Global stock markets have seen significant gains from AI-linked trades since the 2022 launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. However, rising incidents involving AI-powered cyberattacks and increased opposition to data center projects have prompted pushback against the pace of industry growth.
While calls for stricter oversight of AI have grown among some U.S. lawmakers, President Donald Trump responded by criticizing the so-called “negative forces” raising concerns, stating that such scenarios would not come to pass and reiterating his intent to keep the U.S. at the forefront of AI innovation.
Reuters noted, citing sources familiar with the planning, that U.S. and Chinese officials are expected to include AI safety in their agenda for upcoming bilateral discussions.
