A deepened tech sell-off drags Asian stocks lower as markets in South Korea and Japan sink

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares fell sharply Thursday with markets in South Korea and Japan sinking, as a sell-off of technology shares deepened after U.S. stocks fell on hotter-than-expected inflation data.U.S. equity futures were mixed.South Korea's benchmark Kospi index lost 7.9% to 5,532.74. It plummeted more than 16% over the past month and was well below the 9,000 mark that it crossed in June at its all-time high driven by optimism over the global artificial intelligence frenzy.Samsung Electronics slid 11.4% and South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix plunged 12%.Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 5% to 64,340.84. OpenAI investor SoftBank Group lost 9.4%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron dropped 7.8%, and memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings lost 13.1%.Taiwan's Taiex, which also benefited from the AI boom, fell 3.4%. Its leading chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, dropped 2% ahead of its earnings report. TSMC reported on Thursday better-than-expected profit for the lat