SEOUL, October 02 (AJP) -South Korea’s chip bonanza has compressed almost two years of exports into nine months. Semiconductor shipments reached $340.3 billion in January–September 2026, nearly twice the $173.4 billion exported during all of 2025, according to provisional government data.
September alone brought in a record $60.3 billion—nearly three times January’s monthly total and up 262.8 percent from a year earlier. Chips generated 49.9 percent of Korea’s goods exports, almost matching every other product combined. Their export value was roughly 10 times that of cars and 4.7 times the country’s energy import bill.
The international comparisons are equally striking. Korea’s September chip exports approached Japan’s entire August goods exports and exceeded those of India and Indonesia individually. They were also equivalent to nearly 30 percent of total U.S. goods exports and 15 percent of China’s. Those comparisons use August figures for the other economies, their latest available monthly data.
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