Japanese tech and chip stocks fall amid global trade war fears

Shares of Japanese tech and chip-related firms fell as investors braced for an escalation in the global trade war, ahead of Donald Trump’s expected imposition of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.

Semiconductor equipment maker Advantest dropped as much as 9% to its lowest price since October, with fellow chip names Renesas, Disco and Kokusai Electric falling over 6%. SoftBank Group Corp. lost as much as 5.9% in early Tokyo trade. Data center cable makers Fujikura and Furukawa Electric also fell sharply.

The declines in Japan followed a drop in US tech names Monday, with Nvidia falling 8.7%, the most since Jan. 27, as investors avoided risk ahead of Trump’s tariff deadline.

After “another brutal day for US big tech,” Japanese tech and semiconductor names are victims of “risk-off sentiment” Tuesday, as “trade war concerns grow,” wrote Andrew Jackson, head of Japan equity strategy at Ortus Advisors Pte, in a note.

Trump signed an order to hike US tariffs on China to 20% from 10% Monday, according to an X post from the White House’s Rapid Response account.

A probe by Singapore into whether Nvidia Corp. chips barred from China were included in Dell Technologies Inc. and Super Micro Computer Inc. servers shipped to Malaysia is exacerbating negative sentiment in the chip sector, Jackson added. South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix Inc. fell as much as 3.3% on Tuesday morning. Bloomberg