Big names, big hits
Masayoshi Son took the largest single blow on Friday, with his net worth falling by $3.9 billion to around $29 billion as tech stocks slid. The most exposed names were tied to the AI buildout.
Takemitsu Takizaki of sensor maker Keyence, as well as Jason Chang - Singapore's richest person - of ASE Technology Holding Co., which specializes in semiconductor assembly and packaging, each saw losses of no less than $1 billion. Among Samsung Electronics investors, Jay Y. Lee, together with his mother and his sister - one of Asia's wealthiest clans - experienced a roughly $2.5 billion decline in their combined wealth.
How the rout spread
The downdraft in Asia followed a record $2.3 trillion evaporation in the Nasdaq 100's market value. The turbulence also reached hedge funds last month, with Tiger Global Management and Whale Rock Capital Management caught up as AI-related worries rattled markets.
In the region, affluent brokerage clients from Taiwan through Hong Kong were hit with margin calls on leveraged bets, according to people familiar with the matter. The retreat deepened the shift that knocked Nvidia's Jensen Huang from the ranks of the world's ten wealthiest people.
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What to watch next
Anticipation that a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives plus the Senate would move to curb the pace of data center construction - central to AI infrastructure - also weighed on Asian tech stocks on Friday. That political backdrop, layered on top of the Nasdaq 100's massive drawdown, is a reminder that policy signals can quickly reshape market pricing for AI beneficiaries.
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