This market plunge is in the nature of a chain reaction that started in the Korean stock market and spread around the world. In particular, the incident in which SK Hynix, a key supplier in the AI ​​memory semiconductor market, plunged more than 12%, lowering the KOSPI index by nearly 10%, caused a great shock to global investors. This sell-off phenomenon in Korea, coupled with the liquidation of high leverage positions and large-scale redemptions in semiconductor-related ETFs, amplified selling pressure, and this fire immediately spread to Japan's Nikkei index, European technology stocks, and the Nasdaq in the New York stock market. Investors began to have serious doubts about whether AI data center infrastructure investments led by big tech companies such as NVIDIA would actually lead to improvements in companies' profitability, which eventually led to a readjustment of the valuation of technology stocks in general.

Market instability was not simply limited to semiconductors, but also spread to all risky assets such as cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, which showed a high correlation with technology stocks, was hit hard by a decline in investment sentiment, with the $60,000 level threatened in line with the sharp drop in Nasdaq futures. Some point out that companies' aggressive AI investments are largely dependent on debt, and warn that the current macroeconomic environment, including the possibility of interest rate hikes, could be fatal to future value-oriented growth stocks. In fact, as companies such as Broadcom released performance that did not meet market expectations, Wall Street's cynical assessment that 'AI was not expensive but that there were too many people crowded into it' became the dominant sentiment in the market.

However, not all technology stocks collapsed, and clear differentiation is emerging within the market. Large technology stocks such as Microsoft and Amazon maintained a relatively solid trend, and a typical 'risk-averse' market was clearly observed, with funds moving to traditional defensive stocks such as Walmart and Johnson & Johnson. In addition, individual companies with specific issues, such as Rokit Healthcare, recorded upper price limits based on the positive news of their US subsidiary's listing on Nasdaq, regardless of the market's downward trend, showing strong market characteristics of individual stocks. This is interpreted as a signal that investors are moving away from the existing investment method of relying only on vague AI themes and have begun to more carefully examine the company's actual fundamentals and individual growth momentum.

The turning point was found in Micron Technology's earnings announcement. Contrary to market concerns, Micron presented performance forecasts that significantly exceeded expectations, proving that demand for memory semiconductors for AI data centers is still strong. This news raised Micron's stock price by nearly 10% in after-hours trading and returned major index futures, including Nasdaq futures, to an upward trend, suggesting that the recent plunge was a process of resolving overheated positions rather than damage to fundamentals. Experts maintain an optimistic outlook that although short-term volatility is unavoidable, the market will eventually stabilize again as long as companies prove growth through performance.