Taiwan Stocks Crash as Foreign Investors Pull $3 Billion in a Single Day
Taiwan's stock market suffered a historic one-day collapse, with foreign investors dumping shares across nearly every sector — bad news for investors but a buying opportunity for some long-term holders.
- Taiwan's benchmark index crashed as much as 3,700 points intraday, the biggest intraday drop ever, before closing down over 1,800 points.
- Foreign investors pulled roughly $3 billion in a single day, hitting the popular 0050 index ETF hardest along with several actively managed ETFs and high-dividend funds.
- Chip giant TSMC took the biggest dollar hit as foreigners yanked over $1.5 billion from the stock, dragging down the whole market.
- The selloff followed a broader tech stock rout in the US tied to growing worries about AI data center spending, financing costs, and how long it will take those investments to pay off.
- Local investment trusts and a flood of retail buyers stepped in to buy the dip, pushing trading volume in the main index ETFs to record highs, while regulators signaled possible market-support measures.
Outlook: Markets are watching whether Taiwan's financial regulator and stabilization fund step in to support prices, with AI supply chain stocks likely to stay volatile until confidence in AI spending returns.