SoftBank shares plunge over 10% as AI safety calls rattle Asian markets

Associated Press··JPKRHK·Read original
4▲0 ▼4Impact / 5
Summary · why it matters

Shares of Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group, a key investor in OpenAI, fell more than 10% on Monday after Anthropic and OpenAI called for slowing AI development for safety, dragging Asian markets to a mixed close. SoftBank stock traded in Japan plummeted 11.2% after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's weekend calls for the AI industry to slow down, and Altman told Fortune on Saturday that OpenAI would not hold its initial public offering this year as it focuses on safety. Other AI-related Asian stocks also fell, with South Korea's SK Hynix down 5.3%, Samsung Electronics off 2.8%, Japan's Tokyo Electron down 0.9% and Kioxia Holdings sinking 6%. South Korea's Kospi lost 2.5% to 6,739.68, Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 0.8% to 63,474.58, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 24,886.81 and the Shanghai Composite climbed 0.2% to 3,894.28. Oil prices gained more than 3% after Saudi Arabia shut a major pipeline used to bypass the Strait of Hormuz following an attack, with Brent crude up 3.2% to $107.94 a barrel and benchmark U.S. crude up 3.2% to $103.26 a barrel.

Impact on assets 8

Artificial Intelligence▼ · 3 stocks
SoftBank Group Corp.
9984
▼ NegativeTechnologyrelevance

SoftBank, a key OpenAI investor, plunged over 10% after OpenAI and Anthropic called for slowing AI development for safety.

Semiconductors▼ · 3 stocks
SK Hynix Inc
000660
▼ NegativeTechnologyrelevance

SK Hynix fell 5.3% amid the AI-safety-driven selloff in AI-related Asian stocks.

Others▲ · 2 stocks

Off-coverage companies 2

AnthropicPrivate± Mixed
relevance

OpenAIPrivate± Mixed
relevance

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