Taiwan's stock market dropped sharply as fresh Middle East conflict spooked investors, and chipmaker UMC took the worst hit — bad news for its million-plus shareholders.

• The main Taiwan index fell hard, led down by heavyweight tech names like TSMC and Delta Electronics.
• Big institutional investors dumped stock across the board, with foreign money the biggest seller.
• UMC was the single most sold stock, down about 5% after two straight days of heavy selling.
• Foreign investors were not alone — local funds and dealers were selling UMC too, which points to broad loss of confidence rather than one nervous group.
• Cement, electronics and materials names such as Taiwan Cement and Compal also landed near the top of the foreign selling list.

Outlook: If the Middle East conflict keeps escalating, foreign money is likely to keep flowing out of Taiwan tech stocks and UMC could stay under pressure.