Samsung Electronics dragged South Korea's Kospi down 3% on Thursday morning, leading Asian markets lower as investors sorted through a mixed batch of artificial intelligence earnings, while Japanese chip stocks rallied and Hong Kong held roughly flat. In New York after-hours trading, Alphabet shares fell about 10% on heavy cash burn, erasing nearly $400 billion of market value, while Microsoft rose about 3% on better-than-expected cash flows, according to Reuters.

The split matters for Asia's chipmakers, which sell into the data centers both companies are building. Jamie Hannah, deputy head of investments at VanEck, told Reuters that AI revenue at Alphabet and Microsoft remained solid, citing cloud and data center growth, and tied that strength to SK hynix's results in Korea a day earlier. The AI boom itself, he said, had hurt Alphabet's traditional advertising business. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7% by mid-morning, and Nasdaq futures were down 1%, Reuters reported.

Samsung Results Pull the Kospi Lower

The Kospi lost 181.1 points, or 3.01%, to 5,831.34 as of 11:20 a.m. in Seoul, Yonhap News Agency reported. The index opened slightly higher and touched 6,100.11 before turning down shortly before 10 a.m., after Samsung released its quarterly numbers. A day earlier the benchmark surged nearly 7% to close above 6,000 after SK hynix posted record quarterly profit.

Samsung's third-quarter operating profit rose 783.1% from a year earlier to a record 107.44 trillion won, and revenue climbed 126.9% to 195.25 trillion won, the company said. Net profit of 75.13 trillion won, however, fell short of the 87.01 trillion won average analyst estimate compiled by Yonhap Infomax. The semiconductor division produced 106.5 trillion won of the operating profit, and Samsung said its high-bandwidth memory products for 2027 were already sold out.

The shares still fell 6.61% by late morning. SK hynix, which jumped 11% on Wednesday, was up 0.4%.

Other heavyweights added to the pressure. LG Energy Solution sank 9.76% after parent LG Chem announced plans to sell 2.5 trillion won of shares in the battery maker. Doosan Enerbility dropped 12.21% and Daewoo Engineering & Construction plunged 21.79% after Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said it had ended contract negotiations on a nuclear power project in the Czech Republic over disagreements on key terms, according to Yonhap. The won firmed 8.5 won to 1,333.5 per dollar as of 11:20 a.m.

Kioxia and Advantest Lift the Nikkei Before the BOJ

Tokyo moved the other way. The Nikkei 225 climbed about 0.9% to above 64,500 in early trade, according to Trading Economics, its third straight day of gains. Technology shares led, with Kioxia up 8%, Advantest up 7.7% and Ibiden up 5%. Banks also rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group each up 1.7%. The index later trimmed its gain to 0.3% as the regional mood soured, Reuters reported.

The Bank of Japan ends a two-day policy meeting on Oct. 30. It raised its key rate to 1.25%, a 31-year high, in September, and sources told Reuters last week that it was expected to hold this time unless the yen resumed a slide that lifts import costs. Trading Economics said officials could use the meeting to signal a December increase.

Japanese stocks also face a large mechanical trade on Thursday. The biggest-ever rebalancing of the Topix index, affecting more than 700 stocks, is expected to generate about $60 billion of passive trading at the close as exchange-traded funds adjust their holdings, The Japan Times reported. The overhaul takes effect Friday and will be phased in over eight quarters through mid-2028.

Hong Kong Tech Lags as Energy Shares Gain

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 19 points to 23,113 in early trading, The Standard reported, while the Hang Seng Tech index fell 1.7% to about 3,786. Energy and financial stocks did the lifting: PetroChina gained 3.2%, China Shenhua 3.1% and AIA Group 1.6% in morning trade, according to Trading Economics. Mainland China's blue chips fell 0.9%, Reuters said.

Hong Kong investors are also waiting for BYD's third-quarter results, for which analysts expect net income of 12.1 billion yuan, up nearly 55% from a weak year-earlier base, Trading Economics said.

Rates gave stock buyers little relief. The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote, with both dissenters favoring an increase, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority kept its base rate at 4.25% on Thursday in line with the Fed. Kerry Craig, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, said the dissents suggested the question was “not about whether the Fed hikes again, but when.” Markets still priced about an 80% chance of a December hike, while the two-year Treasury yield stood at 4.6933%, Reuters reported.

Brent crude slipped 0.4% to $114.91 a barrel after The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Vice President JD Vance had written to an Iranian security official to revive peace talks, Reuters said.

The next tests come quickly. Amazon and Intel report results later on Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to hold rates the same day, and the Bank of Japan announces its decision on Friday.