Monthly Exports Exceed $100 Billion for First Time, Led by Semiconductors

[Anchor]

Last month, South Korea's monthly exports surpassed $100 billion for the first time in history. This achievement makes South Korea the fourth country to reach this milestone, following Germany, China, and the United States. Driven by a surge in global demand for semiconductors, there are projections that annual exports could reach $1 trillion this year.

Jung Jun-ho has the first report.

[Reporter]

Exports last month were recorded at $102.25 billion, a 71% increase compared to the same period last year.

This figure significantly surpasses the previous record of $87.8 billion set in May.

South Korea is now the fourth country in the world to achieve $100 billion in monthly exports, joining Germany, China, and the United States.

The primary driver behind this growth was undoubtedly semiconductors.

Semiconductor exports surged by 200% compared to the same month last year, reaching $44.8 billion, which accounts for nearly half of the total export value.

This was largely due to the fact that South Korean memory chips have become essential components for global companies competing for dominance in the AI era, coupled with a rise in prices.

[Jensen Huang / CEO of NVIDIA (June 8): SK is our biggest memory chip partner. Without SK, the AI industry today would not have grown to this extent.]

As the price of memory chips has nearly doubled since the beginning of this year, semiconductor exports in the first half of the year have already exceeded the total semiconductor export value for all of last year.

With increasing global investment in AI infrastructure, exports of computers, which include data storage devices, rose by over 300%. Additionally, the AI effect has spread across major export industries, with steel exports turning positive for the first time in 14 months due to increased demand for steel bars used in data center construction.

[Kang Gam-chan / Director General for Trade and Investment Policy at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy: Out of the top 20 major export items, 18 have seen an increase. We have recorded a trade surplus of over $30 billion for the first time in history.]

The government expects semiconductor prices to continue rising in the second half of the year, projecting that the country could reach $1 trillion in annual exports and potentially rise to become the world's fourth-largest exporter.

Bolstered by the strong performance in semiconductor exports, major domestic and international institutions are successively raising their growth forecasts for Korea, with Capital Economics in the UK projecting a 4% growth rate for the country this year.

Reported by Jung Jun-ho | Video by Lee So-young | Graphics by Seo Seung-hyun
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.