Bitcoin is moving in the opposite direction to South Korean equities after renewed concerns about artificial-intelligence spending and competition in the semiconductor industry triggered another steep decline in the country’s benchmark stock index.
KOSPI suffers another sharp fall
The KOSPI dropped 5.5% during Tuesday’s Asian trading session, leaving the index about 38% below its all-time high in June. South Korean chipmakers were among the hardest hit, with SK Hynix falling about 10% and Samsung Electronics losing roughly 7%.
The decline reflects growing doubts about whether the enormous investment required to build AI infrastructure will produce returns large enough to support current industry valuations. Pressure also increased after Chinese memory-chip maker CXMT claimed a technological breakthrough, raising questions about competition and the future profitability of established semiconductor companies.
The weakness was not confined to South Korea. In U.S. premarket trading, memory and storage-chip companies Micron Technology and SanDisk were each down about 3%.
Bitcoin takes a different path
Bitcoin has remained well above its summer low despite the worsening performance of South Korean stocks. The cryptocurrency fell to around $58,000 shortly after the KOSPI reached its June peak, then recovered to as high as $87,000.
Over the same period, bitcoin’s 20-week rolling correlation with the KOSPI was moderately negative at -0.41. A negative correlation means the two assets have generally tended to move in opposite directions over the measured period, although it does not demonstrate that money leaving stocks has flowed into bitcoin.
The divergence is significant because investors have often treated technology stocks and cryptocurrencies as parts of the same broader risk trade. Recent price action, however, shows that bitcoin has not followed South Korean chip stocks lower as concerns about the AI sector have intensified.
Warnings over speculative AI spending
The latest selloff followed comments by Broadcom chief executive Hock Tan, who compared speculative AI investment with gambling in a casino, according to the Financial Times. His remarks added to concerns over whether the sector’s infrastructure spending can generate adequate returns.
At the same time, developments involving CXMT have heightened fears that Chinese competition could put further pressure on the margins of global memory-chip producers, according to Bloomberg. Together, the two developments have deepened the reassessment of AI-related equities.
Bitcoin’s relative resilience may attract attention as investors reconsider exposure to the AI trade, but the market data alone cannot establish a capital rotation between the two asset classes.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 20:34 on October 13, 2026, showed bitcoin at $83,105.99, up 0.19% over 24 hours but down 2.94% over seven days. Compound was trading at $23.0679, down 3.5% in 24 hours and 5.04% over seven days.
DeepBook Protocol stood at $0.02103, gaining 0.27% over 24 hours while falling 8.93% over seven days. AKEDO was priced at $0.02516, up 4.43% over 24 hours and down 13.97% over the week.
