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The Nikkei 225 stock average declined 6% on Friday, falling below 60,000 for the first time since May. It tracked heavy losses on Wall Street on Thursday, as concerns grew over data center and artificial intelligence investments following the Democratic Party's resounding victory in the U.S. midterm elections. The Nikkei 225 fell as much as 7.09% in the morning and closed down 5.96% at 57,434.77. The Topix was down about 6%. Japanese AI, chip and data center-related stocks were hit hard, with Rohm sliding 15%, Furukawa Electric sinking over 8%, Resonac dropping 7%, Kioxia falling more than 8% and SoftBank Group declining 10%. Overnight, the Nasdaq composite fell 5.5%, the biggest drop since April 2025, and the S&P 500 declined 4.4%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, which measures the performance of the 30 largest U.S. semiconductor-related stocks, plunged 12.3%. Democrats secured big wins in the midterm elections on Tuesday with many candidates having campaigned against aggressive data center buildouts and for tighter AI regulations. Texas governor-elect Democrat Gina Hinojosa has already announced the suspension of approvals for new data centers until the state creates laws to protect citizens from potential data-center-related harm. Hinojosa is the first Democratic governor of Texas in more than 30 years, and the state is a home to many data center projects. Given that U.S. President Donald Trump has been supportive of data center expansion and AI development, the Democratic victory is seen as creating potential headwinds for AI and related projects. "The Stock Market suffered one of the Worst Days in History based on the results of the Election," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Such a sad thing to watch! It took so much work to get us to a level that no one has ever seen before, and then this." In Tokyo, the sell-off was broad, but Daikin Industries surged 7.5% to a three-month high in the morning before closing up 1.5% at 21,790. The manufacturer of air conditioning equipment released second-quarter earnings on Thursday and lifted the profit forecast for the fiscal year that ends in March. The U.S. tech sell-off spilled into trading elsewhere in Asia, with South Korea's Kospi briefly declining more than 8%, hitting its lowest level since February and triggering a circuit breaker in the morning. Samsung Electronics shares were off more than 6% and SK Hynix was down 10%. Just a month ago, the Nikkei 225 recovered above the 70,000 mark for the first time in about three months, helped by solid U.S. tech-stock performance. The all-time high of 72,831.73 was set in June. The Nikkei 225 is down more than 20% from its peak but still up 13% over the past year.