South Korea recorded its highest-ever monthly exports — surpassing the US$120 billion mark — last month, thereby exceeding $800 billion in annual exports for the first time in history.
Semiconductors, the nation’s key export product, generated over $60 billion in revenue — accounting for 49.9% of total exports — while the trade surplus neared $50 billion.
This marks the first-time monthly exports have exceeded $120 billion, shattering the previous record of $102 billion set in June. Driven by this performance, cumulative exports from January to September reached $814.5 billion, easily surpassing the record annual total of $709.3 billion set last year.
Semiconductor exports in September hit $60.3 billion, a massive 262.8% increase year-on-year, marking the first time the sector has crossed the $60 billion threshold. This surge followed three consecutive months of exports exceeding $40 billion.
The semiconductor sector maintained strong momentum, fueled by sustained demand for memory chips, increased export volumes, and rising fixed prices. Prices steadily climbed; for instance, the price of DDR5 16Gb chips rose from $37.50 in May to $48.00 last month, while NAND 128Gb chips increased from $26.50 to $30.60 over the same period.
Other IT products also showed strong performance. Computer exports surged by 435.3%, driven by rising demand for enterprise-grade solid-state drives (SSDs) — a trend fueled by the proliferation of agentic AI and expanded global investment in AI infrastructure. Exports of computers reached $7 billion, marking an all-time monthly high.
Exports of wireless communication devices climbed by 23.4% to $2.14 billion — extending a streak of growth to 11 consecutive months — driven by strong sales of premium models like the Galaxy Z8 series and S26 Ultra, as well as increased exports of iPhone components.
Exports of items excluding semiconductors increased by 23%. Among the top 20 major export categories, 11 saw growth, including petroleum products ($7.22 billion, up 72.0%), petrochemicals ($3.95 billion, up 5.1%), and ships ($3.76 billion, up 29.9%).
Steel exports ($2.24 billion, up 3.3%) remained steady, driven by rising demand from AI data centers in the United States, despite tightened regulations such as U.S. tariffs and the EU’s introduction of import quotas, also known as tariff-rate quotas (TRQs).
Automobile exports fell by 5.5% due to a base effect caused by the shifting timing of the Chuseok holiday and sluggish used-car exports, while exports of agricultural and fishery products declined by 4.7%, partly due to fewer working days.
Cosmetic exports hit an all-time high of $1.51 billion (up 31.4%), showing broad-based growth across key markets including China, the USA, ASEAN, and the EU.
By region, exports increased in six out of nine areas. Exports to China grew by 122.7% to $26.01 billion, while exports to the United States increased 137.0% to $24.33 billion. Exports to ASEAN ($21.29 billion) also surpassed the $20 billion mark for the first time, driven by steady growth across major items such as semiconductors, petroleum products, and ships.
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