SEOUL: South Korea posted its highest-ever exports for the month of January, official data showed on Sunday (Feb 1), fuelled by a global artificial intelligence (AI) boom heavily reliant on chips made in the country.
The total value of January’s exports was US$65.8 billion, a 33.9 per cent rise year-on-year, according to a trade ministry statement, marking the first time they surpassed a US$60 billion threshold for the month.
Home to the world’s leading memory chip makers, South Korean products have become crucial to AI infrastructure.
Technology giants Samsung and SK both posted record quarterly operating profits in the October-December period.
“Semiconductor exports came in at US$20.5 billion, a 102.7 per cent increase,” the ministry said, the second-highest monthly chip exports.
The record was set a month earlier, when the country exported chips worth US$20.8 billion.
Automobile exports increased 21.7 per cent year-on-year to US$6 billon, thanks to the strong performance of hybrid and electric cars, it said.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-record-january-exports-ai-boom-5898801
