This is bad news for investors across Asia, as a brutal U.S. tech selloff triggered a crash in Taiwan's stock market and hit chip stocks especially hard.

• Taiwan's main stock index crashed over 3,700 points at the open, breaking below a key long-term support level; TSMC, MediaTek, Delta Electronics, and several memory chip makers all hit daily limit-down.
• The selloff followed a massive drop on Wall Street, where the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all tumbled and chip stocks got hit hardest, with the semiconductor index posting its worst day since early 2020.
• The trigger was the U.S. midterm elections, where Democrats took control of Congress, raising fears that lawmakers will crack down on AI data center spending — one senator even called for a nationwide pause on new data centers.
• The fear is spreading globally: South Korea's market fell so fast it triggered an automatic trading halt, and Japan's market also dropped sharply.
• Investors worry Taiwan's AI supply chain will be hit hard if new data center projects in the U.S. get delayed or blocked, and one analyst warned this downturn may just be getting started.

Outlook: Markets are on edge watching whether U.S. AI spending plans get scaled back, with some analysts warning Taiwan's index could fall much further before stabilizing.