CARS AND COMPUTERS:
A year driven by South Korea’s tech industry and vehicle manufacturers helped them weather turbulent trade conditions with panache.

Soaring global demand for semiconductors fueled by a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) sent South Korea’s exports to their highest-ever level last year, official data showed yesterday.

Total exports last year were valued at more than US$700 billion, up 3.8 percent from the previous year, South Korean Ministry of Trade,

Industry and Energy data showed.

Photo: AP

The worldwide surge in interest in AI saw semiconductor industry exports reach US$173.4 billion last year — a record high and an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.

High-priced memory chips used in AI data centers were in strong demand, the ministry added.

Semiconductor exports last month alone rose more than 40 percent year-on-year, posting gains for a 10th consecutive month and marking a record-high monthly figure.

South Korean tech juggernaut Samsung Electronics Co is one of the world’s top memorychip makers, providing crucial components for the AI industry and the infrastructure it relies on.

The country is also home to SK Hynix Inc, a key player in the global semiconductor market.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has vowed to triple spending on AI this year, aiming to propel the nation into the world’s top three AI powers behind the US and China.

Vehicles, South Korea’s other key export, performed strongly, with auto shipments rising to US$72 billion, the highest on record despite US tariff pressures.

Other sectors such as agriculture and cosmetics also recorded their highest-ever figures, buoyed by strong global interest in the country’s pop culture powerhouse, its food and beauty products.

Exports rose everywhere except to the US and China, weighed down by tariffs on steel, automobiles and machinery.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy was initially hit with a 25 percent across-the-board tariff by the US, but secured a last-minute agreement for a reduced 15 percent rate.

South Korea is one of Washington’s biggest trade partners.

The new record was “achieved amid challenging domestic and external conditions,” South Korean Minister of Trade and Industry Kim Jung-kwan said in a statement.

It “serves as an indicator of the South Korean economy’s solid resilience and growth potential,” he said.

However, “export conditions this year are expected to remain difficult, as uncertainties persist in the trade environment, including the sustainability of semiconductor demand,” he added.