SoftBank Group's logo is prominently displayed at its Tokyo headquarters, observed on November 21, 2025.
On Friday, technology stocks experienced notable declines as worries escalated over the escalating expenses associated with artificial intelligence infrastructure.
U.S. semiconductor firms encountered difficulties during premarket trading, with Intel's shares decreasing by just over 3%. Sandisk dropped by 4.74%, Arm saw a decline of 3.66%, and Marvell fell by 3.29%.
Across Europe, significant chip manufacturers also registered losses at the market's opening. ASML experienced a decrease of 0.83%, Infineon was down by 2.96%, ASM International fell by 3.67%, ST Microelectronics lost 2.95%, and Be Semiconductor witnessed a decline of 3.25%.
SoftBank Group faced a substantial drop of over 12%, leading the losses across the region after the Nasdaq Composite marked its fourth consecutive day of declines, falling by 0.46%. This downturn was largely attributed to a drastic 6% fall in Apple, overshadowing a stronger-than-expected earnings report from Micron.
The Japanese conglomerate could continue to experience challenges following a 3.2% drop in its chip designer, Arm Holdings, which underperformed the broader semiconductor sector despite a strong recovery among AI-related stocks.
Andrew Jackson, an equity strategist at Ortus Advisors, pointed out that investor enthusiasm for SoftBank might be tempered by reports indicating that OpenAI may postpone its initial public offering until next year due to difficulties in generating demand at its proposed $1 trillion valuation.
While Qualcomm's new AI data center chip agreement with Meta is seen as a beneficial development for Arm through potential royalty payments, Jackson noted that Arm is also confronting increasing competition as Qualcomm intensifies its presence in the central processing unit market.
