Why is SK Hynix stock sliding today?

SK Hynix shares fell 7.2% to ,296,000 won on Thursday as a broad rout in South Korean semiconductor stocks erupted following the Democratic Party’s decisive "Blue Wave" victory in U.S. midterm elections.

Weak overnight earnings from chipmakers Arm and Qualcomm also weighed.

Investors rapidly repriced AI-exposed chipmakers on fears that a Democrat-controlled Congress would move to tighten oversight and regulation of AI data center construction and energy usage, directly threatening the demand outlook for high-bandwidth memory — SK Hynix’s most lucrative product line.

A secondary headwind came from a Reuters report published the prior day revealing that U.S. officials have delayed approval of chip equipment export licenses needed by SK Hynix to expand production in China, a development that also complicates the company’s proposed $45 billion NAND chip factory investment in New York.

These twin regulatory pressures — domestic AI policy risk and export control uncertainty — combined to make SK Hynix a focal point for foreign investor selling, with net foreign outflows exceeding 950 billion won on the session alone.

The broader KOSPI index slumped 5% on broad losses in tech, while Nasdaq 100 futures also fell sharply in Asian trade.