Apr 01, 2024 11:00:00

South Korea's chip production in February 2024 grew 65.3% year-on-year, hitting the highest level since late 2009, driven by growing demand for AI-related memory and rising chip exports

It has been reported that chip production in South Korea in February 2024 increased by 65.3% compared to the previous year, the highest figure since 2009. Bloomberg, an overseas media outlet, analyzes that this is due to an increase in demand for AI-related memory.

Korea Chip Production Rises by Most in 14 Years With Strong Semiconductor Demand - Bloomberg

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-29/south-korea-s-semiconductor-output-rises-by-most-in-14-years

According to a report by Bloomberg, monthly chip shipments by Korean companies increased by 62.7% year-on-year in January 2024, and continued to grow rapidly by 59% year-on-year in February 2024. Masu. In addition, chip inventories held by Korean companies decreased by 16.2% in February 2024, indicating strong demand for chips.

Below is a graph showing trends in the Korean semiconductor market. The production volume shown by the black line and the shipment volume shown in red fell to the lowest level ever in February 2023, but have since shown an upward recovery. As a result, the number of stocks shown in yellow has decreased.

The Korea Statistical Office estimated in a report, ``Since chips account for the largest share of South Korea's exports, if this trend continues, the country's economic development will continue in the coming months.''

The driving force behind the development of the chip market in South Korea is the rapidly expanding demand for AI-related chips. In fact, Japan's second-largest chip manufacturer,

SK Hynix , supplies its chips to NVIDIA, which provides the B200 and H100 GPUs for data centers.

Economist Kwon Hyo-sung said, ``Chip production in March 2024 is expected to show steady growth, driven by strong demand for AI memory chips. As we do not expect a significant recovery in demand for Korean products, orders for Korean products may come under pressure.'

In addition, Bloomberg said, ``The memory chip market, which supports the Korean semiconductor industry, is known for repeating boom and bust cycles.'' It seems to give them the confidence to maintain it.”