From January to April this year, China accounted for 29% of Korea's semiconductor exports, ranking first by country. This share had exceeded 40% in 2022, then fell for three consecutive years before rebounding this time. The reason is that Chinese IT corporations are competitively increasing related equipment investment amid the global artificial intelligence (AI) investment boom, boosting demand for memory semiconductors.
China has been the largest importer of Korean semiconductors for more than 20 years since 2005. Based on January to April this year, Hong Kong and Taiwan ranked second and third, respectively, after China. The United States nearly doubled its imports of Korean semiconductors for the first time in four years recently, but remains in fourth place.
◇ China is No. 1 for Korean semiconductor imports… "Much of what is exported to No. 2 Hong Kong also goes to China"
According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources and the Korea International Trade Association on the 3rd, Korea's semiconductor exports from January to April this year reached $110.4 billion, up 1.5 times from the same period last year. By country, exports to China ($32.3 billion) ranked first. China's share of total semiconductor exports rose to 40.3% in 2022, then fell for three consecutive years to 36.6% in 2023, 32.8% in 2024, and 27.5% in 2025. This share climbed again to 29.3% in January to April this year, prompting expectations that it could surpass 30% within the year. Some also say that there has been an increase in cases of U.S.-made semiconductor equipment, which the U.S. government banned from being exported to China, being rerouted to China via Korea.
Hong Kong followed China with 15.6% ($17.3 billion), ranking second. In the IT industry, many see a substantial portion of semiconductors exported to Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, entering China through re-export. Hong Kong's share also increased somewhat from 15% in 2022 to this year. Combined, China and Hong Kong account for 45% of Korea's total semiconductor exports.
◇ Taiwan is No. 3, the United States No. 4… "Exports to Taiwan ultimately end up in the United States"
Taiwan, home to TSMC, is in third place. Taiwan's share of Korea's total semiconductor exports rose from 9.6% in 2022 to 14.1% in January to April this year. TSMC imports memory semiconductors from Korea's corporations, makes products, and then exports them to U.S.-based Nvidia. An industry official said, "Korean semiconductors exported to Taiwan ultimately end up being exported to the United States."
The United States is fourth. The U.S. share of Korea's total semiconductor exports stood at 6.3% in 2022. But it jumped to 13.8% in January to April this year.
In this way, Korea's semiconductor exports are concentrating on China and the United States, while the shares of other countries such as Japan, Singapore, and the European Union are shrinking, a trend expected to continue for the time being.
Accordingly, there are concerns that Korea's semiconductor export performance could swing widely depending on changes in the economic conditions and industrial structures of specific countries. In particular, the fact that major Chinese semiconductor corporations have recently improved results after raising self-sufficiency across manufacturing processes could act as a risk factor for Korea.