Asia's technology-heavy indices sunk yesterday as a region gripped by a 'confidence crisis' put the worst possible interpretation on results from Intel Corp.
Regional stocks took Intel's second-quarter results more badly than Wall Street, where semiconductor shares fell moderately in after-hour deals on Tuesday. The results came out after United States markets closed.
The world's largest semiconductor maker posted a 76 per cent drop in quarterly profits but gave some hope a bottom was near.
Asian investors focused on the pricing pressure implications of Intel's results, not to mention an announced change of production schedules that would leave some Asian suppliers out in the cold.
Japan's Nikkei-225 Index sank below the 12,000-point mark for the first time since March, South Korea hit a three-month low and Taiwan plummeted 3.47 per cent to an eight-year low.
'There's just a complete breakdown in investor confidence in Taiwan right now - there's capital flight, very poor macro-indicators and no light at the end of the tunnel for tech companies and a weakening currency,' the sales head of a US investment bank said. 'Things are looking bad, very very bad.'