HONG KONG, Oct 29 — Tech firms diverged today with a mixed bag of results for some of the AI sector’s big beasts tempering the recent spurt of optimism amid growing anxiety about companies’ investment and debt.

Markets enjoyed a healthy run-up in the previous two days as traders welcomed strong reports from South Korean chip titan SK hynix and a highly impressive IPO filing from Claude-creator Anthropic.

That helped steady nerves among investors who have started to question the vast sums pumped into the AI build-out and when they will see returns, with the spike in borrowing costs compounding concerns.

But uncertainty crept back in Asia on Thursday after Samsung Electronics’ 107.4 trillion won (RM327 billion) third-quarter operating profit fell short of estimates, even as it represented a breathtaking 783 per cent year-on-year jump.