South Korea’s semiconductor export to surpass US$100 bil in 2021

The South Korea government is expecting semiconductor export to surpass US$100 billion in 2021.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Tuesday that export is estimated to increase 10.2% this year to US$109.3 billion from last year’s US$99.2 billion.

This will be the second highest ever figure if the estimate is met. The highest on record is 2018 when the country exported US$126.7 billion worth of semiconductors.

Memory semiconductor is expected to increase 12% from a year ago to US$71.6 billion. This growth will be led by DRAM. NAND flash prices will remain flat, the ministry said.

System semiconductor export is expected increase 7% to US$32.4 billion. This is thanks to demand increase for 5G modem chip and image sensors. Korean chip makers winning large foundry clients will also contribute this growth, the ministry said.

The expansion of the 5G market and remote economy will lead these increase in exports.

South Korea is also expected to be the largest investor in semiconductor facilities this year. This will be followed by China and Taiwan, the ministry said.

Samsung Electronics reached market capitalization of US$500.1 billion in December, surpassing TSMC’s US$488.1 billion in five months.

SK Hynix is third in terms of market capitalization.