Taiwan's stock market fell hard, but passive component makers bucked the trend and jumped — good news for investors in that corner of the chip supply chain.

• The main Taiwan index opened lower and fell more than 900 points, dragged down by weak US and Asian markets.
• Passive component stocks went the other way: Walsin Technology climbed back above NT$300 and Chin-Poon-linked supplier Chunghsin Electronics hit its daily limit-up, with dozens of smaller names rising too.
• The trigger is AI servers, which need high-end capacitors — Chunghsin's July profit more than doubled from a year ago and its sales have grown five months straight.
• Money is rotating back into components because the industry's glut of unsold inventory is nearly cleared and some makers are hinting at price increases.
• The wider selloff hit memory and chip stocks across Asia, with Japan's market down over 2,000 points at one stage and Korea briefly halting program trading.

Outlook: Passive component makers look past the bottom, with third-quarter results and factory usage rates the next thing to watch.