Trading on South Korea's Kospi index was paused temporarily on Tuesday morning after sliding by 8%.

Shares in major chip firms have fallen sharply in the US and Asia as a sell-off in artificial intelligence-related stocks deepened. Trading on South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was paused temporarily on Tuesday morning after sliding by 8%. It fell further after the 20-minute halt was lifted to trade around 10% lower. The slump was led by technology firms, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both falling by more than 10%. It comes after AI chip giant Nvidia fell by 5% in New York on Monday, meaning it lost its position as the world's most valuable listed company to Apple. The tech-heavy Kospi has been halted eight times so far this year under a stock market mechanism known as a circuit breaker, which is designed to calm panic selling. The index had more than doubled from the start of the year to mid-June but has since lost around a third of its value. In recent months, stock market trading has been particularly volatile in South Korea as it has attracted large numbers of retail investors. On Monday, US-listed shares in SK Hynix fell by 7.5% to well below the $149 offer price when it made a record-breaking debut on the Nasdaq on 9 July.