Recently, the dependence on China in South Korea's semiconductor exports has significantly decreased, with the share of exports to the United States, Taiwan, and Vietnam expanding, rapidly altering the export landscape. The U.S.-China semiconductor conflict, the growth of the AI market led by the United States, and the trend of IT manufacturing moving away from China are cited as the backdrop for these changes.
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea International Trade Association on the 5th, South Korea's semiconductor export value is projected to reach $141.9 billion in 2024, marking the highest level ever recorded. By export region, the combined share of China and Hong Kong decreased by 9.4 percentage points, from 61.1% in 2020 to 51.7% in 2024 (based on January to November). In contrast, the share of the United States and Taiwan rose from 13.9% to 21.7% over the same period.
Exports to Taiwan, in particular, have surged, with the share of exports to Taiwan increasing more than twofold from just 6.4% in 2020 to 14.5% in 2024. This rise was significantly influenced by the increase in sales of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) supplied by SK hynix to NVIDIA. HBM is assembled at TSMC's packaging facility in Taiwan before being delivered to NVIDIA.
Exports to Vietnam have also increased markedly. The share of exports to Vietnam rose from 11.6% in 2020 to 12.9% in 2024, which is attributed to Samsung Electronics' relocation of its production bases. In 2019, Samsung Electronics closed its factory in Huizhou, China, and shifted its major IT product manufacturing base to Vietnam. As a result, intermediate goods for smartphones that were previously exported to China moved to Vietnam.