Memory Chips Remain in High Demand, Fueling Inflation

[Anchor]

As we just reported, although semiconductor stocks fell today (July 2), the upward trend in memory prices continues. This is causing a chain reaction of price hikes for electronic devices such as computers and tablets. With the impact of high oil prices due to the war still lingering, the rate of inflation in Korea shows no signs of slowing down.

Reporter Hong Yeongjae has the story.

[Reporter]

This is an Apple product store in Seoul.

A notice has been posted announcing that product prices will increase starting this month.

The price of the 13-inch MacBook Air model has risen by 22%, and the iPad mini model has seen an increase of over 33%.

[Apple MacBook User: The price is a bit burdensome, so I am giving it a lot of thought. I am even considering switching to a domestic brand instead of a MacBook.]

Home gaming consoles have also joined the wave of price hikes.

Sony raised the prices of its PlayStation 5 models by up to 43% last May, and Nintendo will increase the price of its Switch 2 by 17% this coming September.

[Hwang Jin-il/Office Worker: I bought one as a gift for my girlfriend, but it is a bit too expensive for me to buy one for myself as well. I think it would be better to look into buying one before the price goes up.]

Due to the global explosion in AI demand, the prices of general-purpose DRAM and NAND flash memory have soared more than eightfold in just one year, putting manufacturers under pressure to raise prices.

Prices for laptops and custom-built PCs from companies like Samsung and LG Electronics have already increased significantly.

With high oil prices continuing for over four months, combined with the rising costs of electronic goods, the overall consumer price index last month rose by 3.2% compared to a year ago.

This marks the largest increase in 30 months.

The computer category has risen by around 20% year-on-year for two consecutive months, highlighting the so-called chipflation phenomenon.

The government expects the rate of increase to slow down next month as the decline in international oil prices is reflected in the data.

[Lee Doo-won/Economic Trend Statistics Examiner at the National Data Agency: We expect oil prices to fall this month in line with the drop in price ceilings, and consequently, we anticipate a decline in overall consumer prices, provided there are no major changes in other areas.]

However, as food prices remain high and the impact of the high exchange rate is expected to be reflected in inflation with a time lag, the burden on consumers is likely to persist.

(Video reporting: Choi Ho-jun, Video editing: Lee So-young, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)

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