Asian Software Stocks Fall as AI Jitters Return
By Megan Cheah
Asian software stocks fell Tuesday, tracking the U.S. market's overnight selloff on renewed artificial-intelligence jitters.
In Hong Kong, software maker Kingdee International led losses on the city's tech gauge, falling nearly 10% in the morning. AI software firm SenseTime Group slid around 6.5%, while Beijing-based Kingsoft Corp. shed roughly 4%.
Japanese IT services provider NEC Corp. and Oracle's Tokyo-listed Japan arm each dropped around 6% before midday. Tech investor Softbank Group fell around 5%.
Australian software stocks were also lower. Accounting software firm Xero fell around 3%, enterprise software-as-a-service provider Technology One dropped roughly 4%, and cloud-based logistics company WiseTech Global was down around 3%.
Moves were more muted in South Korea, where Kosdaq-listed Hancom was recently down 0.6% in morning trade. The company is known for its Hancom Office word-processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications--similar to Microsoft Office but with strong Korean-language support.
The declines followed losses on Wall Street Monday. Investors were likely spooked by a viral Citrini Research report that raised fresh AI fears, outlining a scenario in which technological change fuels a race to the bottom in white-collar knowledge work.
Software firms Datadog, CrowdStrike and Zscaler each fell more than 9%. American Express, KKR and Blackstone--all cited by Citrini--slid.
AI concerns have rattled markets before. In early February, anxiety over companies' heavy artificial-intelligence capital expenditure plans drove losses across Asian tech and software stocks.
The latest bout of AI anxiety adds to geopolitical and tariff concerns, triggering a classic risk‐off move that pushed global bond yields lower and lifted gold, OCBC Group Research strategists said.
New AI tool releases could continue to unsettle specific tech subsectors, they added.
--Kwanwoo Jun contributed to this report.
Write to Megan Cheah at megan.cheah@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 23, 2026 22:43 ET (03:43 GMT)
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