S Korea’s exports nearly double amid AI demand

South Korea’s exports nearly doubled last month, the sharpest jump in more than 50 years, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) investment boosted shipments of the country’s chips, government data showed yesterday.

Exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a bellwether for global trade, rose 93.7 percent from the same month last year to US$115.28 billion, slightly higher than a median 93.2 percent rise forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

The surge, boosted by having more working days than a year earlier due to the timing difference in the Chuseok holidays, exceeded September’s 83.7 percent gain and was the strongest since January 1974.

A truck drives between shipping containers at the Port of Incheon in South Korea on May 26, 2016.

Photo: Reuters

Riding the global boom in AI investment, South Korea’s economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter on strong semiconductor exports and investments, with chipmakers Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc posting surging profits.

“With exports continuing solid growth of more than US$110 billion in October, it is becoming certain that annual exports of US$1 trillion will be reached within November,” South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources Kim Jung-kwan said.

South Korea’s exports for the January-October period totaled US$930 billion. Annual exports of more than US$1 trillion would make South Korea the fourth country in the world to reach the milestone, after the US, China and Germany.

Overseas sales of semiconductors jumped 259.4 percent last month to US$56.44 billion, as prices and volume remained high on continued facility investment by global big tech firms in the competition for AI industry leadership, the trade ministry said.

Computer sales spiked 496.6 percent on increasing server demand for AI services.

Shipments to China rose 133.6 percent, while those to the US grew by 185.8 percent, to Europe by 56.4 percent and to Southeast Asia by 128.0 percent.

South Korea’s imports rose 36.0 percent to US$72.78 billion, after rising 26.0 percent in September, to post the biggest annual increase since January 2022 on higher crude oil prices, as well as demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and cars.

The nation posted a monthly trade surplus of US$42.50 billion, narrower than a record US$49.97 billion surplus in the previous month.