In July, exports in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry recorded the highest figure ever due to the semiconductor boom.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced the trends in ICT exports and imports for the month of July on the 13th. During this period, exports amounted to $22.19 billion (about 30.7465 trillion won), marking a 4.5% increase compared to the same period last year. This is the highest export performance recorded for July ever. Imports totaled $13.32 billion (about 18.456 trillion won), reflecting a 9.8% increase from the same period last year. Consequently, the trade balance recorded a surplus of $8.87 billion (about 12.29 trillion won).
The background for the increase in July's ICT industry exports is attributed to the continued boom in the semiconductor sector. Exports in the semiconductor sector achieved the highest performance for four consecutive months, based on the same month.
In July, the exports of major ICT items compared to the same month last year saw the following increases: ▲semiconductors increased by 31.2% ▲communication equipment increased by 4.6%. However, there were decreases in ▲displays by 8.9% ▲cell phones by 21.7% ▲computers and peripherals by 17.1%.
The Ministry of Science and ICT noted, "The semiconductor sector recorded the highest performance for July due to the continued rise in fixed prices of memory semiconductors, along with ongoing demand for high-value-added products such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) and double data rate (DDR) 5," and added, "Exports of communication equipment increased thanks to demand in the U.S. for military applications and demand for 5G equipment in Japan."
It continued, "Exports of displays decreased due to increased uncertainty in demand from upstream industries," and noted, "Although exports of cell phone components declined, the strong performance of finished goods exports mitigated the overall export decrease to some extent." Regarding computers and peripherals, it explained, "The temporary demand slowdown was observed due to the sharp increase in exports of solid-state drives (SSD) last year and the accumulation of inventory in the first half of the year, leading to decreased exports."
By region, exports showed increases of ▲11.9% to the U.S. ▲16.4% to Vietnam ▲18.0% to the European Union ▲23.9% to Japan. Conversely, exports to China (including Hong Kong) decreased by 5.6%.
In July, the imports of major ICT items compared to the same period last year showed increases of ▲9.2% for semiconductors ▲19.3% for cell phones ▲15.6% for computers and peripherals. In the computers and peripherals category, the import scale of graphic processing units (GPU) for data centers driven by AI demand reached $6 million, reflecting a 749.7% increase compared to the same period last year. The import scale for mainframe computers also increased by 39.9% during this period, totaling $300 million.