South Korea’s semiconductor exports have once again reached a monthly record high, driven by expanded investments in artificial intelligence (AI). This marks the fifth record-breaking month this year.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources announced on September 1 in its “August Export-Import Trends” report that semiconductor exports in August amounted to 46.65 billion dollars, surging 209.0% year-on-year to set a new monthly record. This growth was fueled by sustained demand for AI infrastructure, particularly from large cloud companies like Google and Amazon, which have been expanding their facility investments.
Semiconductor exports have now broken records five times this year: 25.1 billion dollars in February, 32.8 billion dollars in March, 37.2 billion dollars in May, 44.8 billion dollars in June, and 46.6 billion dollars in August. Exports have also exceeded 40 billion dollars for three consecutive months.
Total exports last month increased by 68.7% year-on-year to 98.25 billion dollars, ranking as the third-highest monthly export performance on record. The highest was 102 billion dollars in June, followed by 99 billion dollars in July. Daily average exports, adjusted for working days, rose by 72.5% to 4.47 billion dollars.
Imports grew by 22.5% to 63.51 billion dollars, resulting in a trade surplus of 34.75 billion dollars. This marks the third consecutive month of trade surpluses exceeding 30 billion dollars.
Computer exports also hit a monthly record of 6.24 billion dollars, up 419.5%, driven by rising prices of NAND flash memory, a key component in enterprise SSDs. Wireless communication device exports increased for the 10th consecutive month, rising 21.2% due to higher sales of the Galaxy S26 and foldable new products.
In contrast, automobile and ship exports declined. Automobile exports fell 29.8% to 3.85 billion dollars due to production disruptions caused by summer vacations at major automakers and partial strikes. Ship exports dropped 45.9% as delivery volumes decreased.
Petroleum product exports rose 65.3% to 6.84 billion dollars, while petrochemical exports increased 12.2% to 3.86 billion dollars, both driven by higher unit prices amid rising oil costs linked to tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. However, export volumes for both categories decreased.
Exports to seven of the nine major regions increased. Exports to China surged 119.3% to 24.1 billion dollars, while those to the U.S. grew 89.3% to 16.5 billion dollars. Exports to ASEAN reached 19.09 billion dollars, up 75.4%, marking the highest August performance on record.
August imports rose 22.5% due to increased energy costs. Crude oil imports fell 3% in volume but increased 21.2% in value to 8.3 billion dollars as unit prices jumped 26%.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan stated, “While semiconductor exports continue to thrive, other non-semiconductor items are also showing strong growth rates of over 20%, indicating a broadening export base. Given uncertainties in the trade environment, including U.S. tariff policies, the EU’s steel tariff-rate quota (TRQ), and Middle East tensions, we will closely monitor their impact on corporate exports.”
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