A tech rout swept through Asian markets on Friday, with South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 leading losses, renewing concerns over the durability of the AI-driven chip rally. South Korea's Kospi index was over 8% lower at 12.45 p.m. local time, with chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both down around 9%. Japan's Nikkei 225 was around 5% lower as SoftBank Group slumped 14% after The New York Times reported that OpenAI, one of the Japanese conglomerate's biggest AI investments,