Taiwan’s benchmark TAIEX fell 2.49% Friday amid a technology-share selloff, while earnings from major cloud providers renewed debate over the payoff from AI investment.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange said the index closed at 45,211.83, down 1,156.50 points. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.38% to 26,184.72 on Thursday, Nasdaq data showed.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) fell NT$45 to NT$2,370, a decline of about 1.86%, according to exchange data. Focus Taiwan reported that foreign institutional investors were net sellers of NT$112.47 billion in shares.
Lu Chin-wei, an analyst at Concord Capital Management, said investor concern about AI spending had resurfaced after large U.S. cloud providers reported results, Focus Taiwan reported. The Associated Press described Alphabet’s share decline as its steepest in more than two decades and linked it to results showing growth below analysts’ expectations, which revived doubts about AI returns.
Alphabet’s third-quarter filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reported revenue of $127.6 billion, up 25% from a year earlier. Google Cloud revenue rose 103% to $30.7 billion.
Amazon said Amazon Web Services sales climbed 39.3% to $46 billion. It also reported negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion for the 12 months through Sept. 30, saying the decline was driven mainly by increased property and equipment purchases, largely reflecting AI investment.
