The South Korean government has revealed that its chipmaking industry recorded its biggest-ever gains in both production and shipments this year. The increased momentum is one of the clearest signs yet that the global chipmaking industry is poised to bounce back from doldrums it entered in 2022 as the world reopened following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data released by South Korea’s national statistical office shows that chip production increased by 42% in November compared to the year prior, representing its largest gain since late 2002. Shipments rose by 80% over the same period, while inventories expanded by 36%.
They are promising numbers which point to a rebound in what is South Korea’s most important industry. The decline in semiconductor shipments has weighed heavily on the country’s economy, significantly hampering the profitability of two of its biggest companies – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and SK Hynix Inc. According to Bloomberg, the figures indicate that a nascent recovery in the global technology industry is also gaining steam.
The growth bodes well, not only for the prospects of South Korea’s major chipmakers, but also its heavy machinery industry, the country’s finance ministry said in a statement.
The $160 billion global memory chip market has been hammered by an economic slowdown that began in 2022 and dampened demand for personal computers and smartphones, which are the two most important products that use Samsung’s chips. Because of this, prices for memory chips collapsed over the last year, and the company’s semiconductor business recorded its first-ever loss in the second quarter, followed by another in October when it announced its third quarter results . Had it not been for the strong performance of its smartphone business, Samsung could have posted an overall net loss.
Although Samsung’s latest results disappointed investors, the company said in October that it was already seeing signs of a recovery in the semiconductor market, thanks in part to its focus on more profitable advanced chips for artificial intelligence workloads. Samsung officials also said they’re expecting prices of memory chips to increase in the fourth quarter.
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