Taiwan's semiconductor stocks were heavily sold off, with silicon wafer and memory shares taking the brunt of the damage — bad news for Taiwan stock investors.

• GlobalWafers briefly fell to its limit-down price, breaking below its monthly moving average; Sino-American Silicon, Wafer Works, Taisil and Episil weakened in tandem.
• The cause was mounting pressure from semiconductor inventory adjustments, compounded by sustained net selling by institutional investors and buyers staying on the sidelines.
• China's CXMT announced a breakthrough in its next-generation DRAM architecture, hitting US memory stocks; in Taiwan, Nanya Technology, Winbond and Macronix followed with declines of more than 6%.
• The broader index plunged more than 1,000 points in early trading, falling below the 49,000 level, while TSMC also dropped below NT$2,500.
• Separately, test equipment maker Chroma ATE was hit by a settlement default — the 21st case this year — indicating unstable market positioning.

Outlook: With share ownership in disarray in the near term and institutional selling pressure not yet exhausted, investors would do well to wait for volume to contract and a base to form before reassessing, rather than rushing in to buy.