Concerns over the profitability of artificial intelligence infrastructure investments have resurfaced, causing a sharp drop in the domestic stock market and triggering successive sell sidecars on both the KOSPI and KOSDAQ markets.

The Korea Exchange temporarily suspended program sell orders for five minutes, starting at 9:07 AM today (October 15) in the KOSPI market and at 9:12 AM in the KOSDAQ market.

The sell sidecar on the KOSPI was triggered just two days after the previous instance on October 13.

As of 9:30 AM, the KOSPI plunged 5.7% and the KOSDAQ plummeted 6.2%, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix also recorded steep declines of over 6% and 8%, respectively.