Asian are mixed and OpenAI investor SoftBank shares plunge after calls to slow AI industry

HONG KONG: Asian shares were mixed Monday, as shares of Japanese investment conglomerate SoftBank Group, a key investor in OpenAI, fell more than 10% following calls from Anthropic and OpenAI to slow AI development for safety.

US futures edged lower, while oil prices gained more than 3% as worries grew over global oil supplies after Saudi Arabia shut down a major oil pipeline used to help bypass the Strait of Hormuz after it was attacked.

South Korea's Kospi lost 2.5% to 6,739.68. Japan's Nikkei 225 index slid 0.8% to 63,474.58. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 24,886.81. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.2% to 3,894.28.

Shares of OpenAI investor SoftBank Group traded in Japan plummeted 11.2%, after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei in his calls over the weekend that the AI industry should slow down to ensure its safety.

Altman also said in an interview with Fortune published Saturday that his AI firm would not make its initial public stock offering this year as it focuses on safety.

OpenAI and Anthropic are private companies, but both are expected to list and be traded publicly in the months ahead.

SoftBank's share price slide "probably reflects the possibility that AI development may be slowed by regulators to try to avoid the worst case outcomes that Anthropic and Open AI have discussed," said Dan Baker of investment research firm Morningstar. "And maybe also reflect the possibility that any further examples of loss of control of newer AI models could also slow AI development."

Other AI-related stocks in Asia also fell on Monday. South Korea's memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 5.3%. Samsung Electronics lost 2.8%. Japan's chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron dropped 0.9%, while Japanese memory maker Kioxia Holdings sank 6%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1% to 8,747.60.

Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.6%.

Oil prices moved higher early Monday as US-Iran tensions remained escalated while Iran-backed Houthi rebels stepped up attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.2% to USD 107.94 per barrel. It was at roughly USD 72 a barrel before the start of the war in Iran in late February.

Benchmark US crude was also up 3.2% to USD 103.26 per barrel.

While the prospect of a de-escalation of war in Iran and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global oil transport, may have dimmed, wrote ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey in a commentary Monday, the situation is still fluid and "sizeable" volumes of oil have still been moving through the strait.

On Friday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 gained 0.9%, ending its four-day losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 1%.

Investors are also monitoring this week's Federal Reserve meeting, in which Fed policymakers could raise rates as inflation remains above the Fed's 2% target.

Growing inflationary worries following the Iran war-caused energy shock and rising US government debt have fueled a sell-off of government bonds and put pressure on US Treasury yields.

The yield on the 10-year US Treasury was at 4.98%, up from 4.95% last Thursday despite the US Treasury Department's expanded buyback operations meant to stabilize the bond market.

In other dealings, the US dollar rose to 154.06 Japanese yen from 153.58 yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1570, down from USD 1.1598.