Korea's ICT Exports Triple to $70.35 Billion on Record Chip Surge

South Korea's ICT (information and communications technology) exports more than tripled in October, rising 202.0% year-on-year to $70.35 billion — the highest monthly growth rate on record and the largest October figure ever.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy reported the numbers on the 15th in their October 2026 ICT trade trends release. ICT imports rose 52.7% to $19.8 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $50.55 billion.

The sector's share of total exports keeps climbing. ICT accounted for 61.0% of Korea's $115.28 billion in total outbound shipments, holding above 60% for a third straight month since August. The monthly sequence tells the story: $59.98 billion in August, $75.14 billion in September, then above $70 billion again in October.

What drove the 202% jump?

Semiconductors, overwhelmingly. Chip exports surged 259.4% to $56.47 billion — 80.3% of all ICT exports. The ministries attributed the spike to expanding AI infrastructure investment, rising demand for high-performance memory, a shortage of DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) supply and higher memory prices.

Memory chips did the heaviest lifting:

• Memory exports overall: up 360.5% to $50.14 billion
• DRAM exports: up 595.3% to $33.77 billion
• System chip exports: up 32.5% to $5.66 billion
• Foundry shipments: down 6.9%

SSDs (solid-state drives) posted some of the sharpest gains as AI data center investment grew. Computers and peripherals jumped 439.3% to $5.99 billion, including $5.64 billion in SSDs, up 584.3% year-on-year. SSD exports to the U.S. alone climbed 922.7% to $3.83 billion.

The rest of the sector grew far more modestly. Display exports rose 23.6% to $2.03 billion on stronger demand for OLED (organic light-emitting diode) panels used in foldable smartphones and laptops. Mobile phone exports gained 6.5% to $1.71 billion, helped by premium handsets. Telecommunications equipment added 26.5% to reach $230 million.

Where did the shipments go?

The U.S. market stood out. Exports there surged 522.4% to $15.56 billion, with chip shipments up 734.1% and computer and peripheral shipments up 766.0%. China and Hong Kong remained the largest market, taking $27.21 billion, up 213.1%.

What does this change for smaller suppliers?

Not much — and that's the problem. The boom concentrated in semiconductors and large companies. ICT exports by small and mid-sized firms rose just 10.3% to $5.61 billion. Their semiconductor exports actually fell 6.2%, a sharp contrast with the triple-digit growth in overall chip shipments.

In short, Korea's export engine has rarely run this hot, but it runs on one fuel: memory semiconductors shipped by the country's largest chipmakers, increasingly bound for American AI data centers.