Nov 6 (Reuters) - Stock markets were tumbling as fear gripped investors that the Democratic sweep at the midterm elections would lead to regulation and a slowdown of the AI boom that has been propelling computer supply chain stocks all over the world.

The Nasdaq fell 5.5% on Thursday in the biggest drop since the tariff-triggered "Liberation Day" rout in 2025.

On Friday in Asia, South Korea's KOSPI slumped 6% and Taiwan's benchmark slid 4.5% ‌to notch its largest weekly fall for more than two decades. [MKTS/GLOB]

Here's what market participants are saying:

CHRISTOPHER FORBES, HEAD OF ASIA AND MIDDLE EAST, CMC MARKETS, SINGAPORE:

"It's actually a bit of a disaster.

"(Clients) were long index, long stocks, and ‌they all got carried out.

"All night, all day – we had client margin calls, client complaints, ... because it's a very emotional thing, right? People are wedded to their positions and views on a stock or outcome and you're telling them, look, you've just lost money.

"And it's not just a slap in terms of valuation. ​It's basically a whole policy and six-year structural shift that says we're now going to pause, we're now going to cool AI, we're now going to cool data centres, approvals and equity capital markets."

DONG BAOZHEN, CHAIRMAN, LINGTONG SHENGTAI, BEIJING:

"The selloff shows that AI stock prices had been built on rosy illusions about the future, and now that illusion is gone," Dong said.

"The US stock market has been the standard-bearer and backbone of the global AI bull run. Now that backbone has snapped. Can AI bull markets elsewhere hold up on their own?"

JASON LUI, HEAD OF APAC EQUITY DERIVATIVES STRATEGY, BNP PARIBAS, HONG KONG:

"We are actually receiving more inquiries about looking at China onshore, because what we have noticed is that over the past month or so, the Chinese policymakers have stepped up on their stabilisation measures.

"Clients tend to ‌view the China onshore trade as a potential diversifier from their global portfolio that tends ⁠to be more driven by US AI."

ALLEN HUANG, VICE PRESIDENT, MEGA FINANCIAL HOLDING EQUITIES TRADING DEPARTMENT:

"Today we are bound to see further liquidation of margin accounts, which suggests we are likely in the final stage of capitulation.

"Even TSMC hit its daily limit-down circuit breaker at one point, which typically marks the tail end of a downturn. When TSMC gets sold off, that means all stocks have been ⁠thoroughly dumped."

STEVE SOSNICK, CHIEF STRATEGIST, INTERACTIVE BROKERS, NEW YORK:

"Investors had already begun to question whether all the copious AI spending would reap sufficient returns to justify billions in debt and equity capital.