As the global semiconductor supply chain is reshaped by expanding artificial intelligence (AI) demand, South Korea's semiconductor exports to China have decreased while those to Taiwan have surged.

With production facilities for major manufacturing industries, including semiconductors, concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, the capital region's share of the nation's total manufacturing output has expanded to over 30%.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) announced on July 27 that it has published the "Map of Production and Supply Chain for Major Manufacturing Industries in Korea" containing these findings.

The manufacturing map is a visualized data resource covering 11 major domestic manufacturing sectors, outlining regional production status, exports by country and item for produced goods, and import structures for raw materials and intermediate goods necessary for production.

The BOK pointed out that the global industrial environment has rapidly shifted over the past few years due to the spread of AI, the growth of China's manufacturing sector alongside strengthened protectionism, and the expansion of eco-friendly regulations, which has in turn swiftly reorganized South Korea's manufacturing production and import-export structures.

In particular, exports of semiconductors to Taiwan increased significantly driven by rising demand for AI chips.

In 2022, Taiwan accounted for 9.0% of South Korea's semiconductor exports, making it the fourth-largest export destination, but its export share jumped significantly to 19.9% in 2025, elevating it to the second-largest export destination.

China maintained its position as the top destination for semiconductor exports following 2022, but both its export share (from 53.1% to 40.3%) and export value (from $75.808 billion to $74.456 billion) declined.

Jeong Seong-yeob, head of the Regional Research Support Team at the BOK's Research Department, explained, "As semiconductor demand shifted from traditional central processing units (CPUs) and DRAMs to graphics processing units (GPUs) and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), the global AI semiconductor supply chain centered around NVIDIA in the U.S., TSMC in Taiwan, and Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in South Korea has solidified."

Looking at domestic production trends by region, the concentration of manufacturing in the Seoul metropolitan area intensified further as semiconductor production grew, drawing facilities to the region.

The Seoul metropolitan area's share of domestic semiconductor production output expanded by 7.8 percentage points from 74.5% in 2014 to 82.3% in 2024.

The Chungcheong region followed with a 14.7% production share, while the Daegu-Gyeongbuk region (1.8%) and the Honam region (1.0%) remained in the 1% range.

The capital region's share of total manufacturing production also increased from 29.4% in 2014 to 33.2% in 2024.

Examining the manufacturing landscape within the Seoul metropolitan area, the share held by the semiconductor sector expanded more than threefold from 12.6% in 2014 to 29.1% in 2024.

Team Head Jeong stated, "Given that the sales of Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, which have production facilities in the capital area, have increased significantly entering this year, the share of semiconductors within the metropolitan area is expected to be even larger on a current basis."

Additionally, the BOK noted that as China's manufacturing sector expands its influence in the global market, competition with South Korea is intensifying in fields such as electric vehicles, batteries, and steel.

In particular, fueled by the global expansion of eco-friendly vehicle demand, China has grown into the world's largest electric vehicle producer, leading to a sharp increase in China's share of the domestic auto import market.

The import share of U.S.-made automobiles dropped significantly from 28.9% in 2022 to 11.1% in 2025, whereas the share of Chinese-made vehicles expanded more than tenfold from 3.5% in 2022 to 37.2% in 2025.

Surpassing even the share of German-made vehicles (37.0%), China has risen to become the top country of origin for automobile imports.