GoKawiilShares in major chip firms have fallen sharply in the US and Asia as a sell-off in artificial intelligence-related stocks deepened.
Trading on South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was paused temporarily on Tuesday morning after sliding by 8%. It fell further after the 20-minute halt was lifted to trade around 10% lower.
The slump was led by technology firms, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both falling by more than 10%.
It comes after AI chip giant Nvidia fell by 5% in New York on Monday, meaning it lost its position as the world's most valuable listed company to Apple.
The tech-heavy Kospi has been halted eight times so far this year under a stock market mechanism known as a circuit breaker, which is designed to calm panic selling.
The index had more than doubled from the start of the year to mid-June but has since lost around a third of its value.
In recent months, stock market trading has been particularly volatile in South Korea as it has attracted large numbers of retail investors.
On Monday, US-listed shares in SK Hynix fell by 7.5% to well below the $149 offer price when it made a record-breaking debut on the Nasdaq on 9 July.
Japan's Nikkei 225, which is also dominated by tech companies, was almost 4.5% lower on Tuesday morning.
Nvidia shares fell on Monday after the Wall Street Journal reported that it is in talks to provide around $250bn for OpenAI as part of a massive data-centre project.
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