South Korea October exports jump 93.7% to $115.28 billion on chips

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📅 November 1, 2026 • Reuters

South Korea's exports nearly doubled in October, rising 93.7% year-on-year to $115.28 billion, the second-highest monthly total on record and the strongest monthly growth since January 1974, according to trade data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources released on November 1 and reported by Reuters. The figure beat the median forecast of a 93.2% rise in a Reuters poll of economists and exceeded September's 83.7% gain. Part of the jump came from a favourable calendar — more working days than a year earlier due to the timing of the Chuseok holidays.

Semiconductors drove the record growth. Chip exports jumped 259.4% year-on-year to $56.44 billion, taking a 48.9% share of the month's total exports, as prices and volumes stayed high on continued facility investment by global big tech firms competing for AI industry leadership. Computer exports surged 496.6% on server demand for AI services. Growth was broad-based — 18 of 20 key export items posted gains, and automobiles rose 18.1% to $6.55 billion. Imports rose 36.0% to $72.78 billion, leaving a monthly trade surplus of $42.50 billion.

Cumulative exports for January through October reached $930 billion, and the ministry expects the $1 trillion annual mark to be crossed as early as November. Monthly shipments have now topped $110 billion for two consecutive months, after September's $121.1 billion. Shipments to the United States grew 185.8% to $24.9 billion, supported by demand for semiconductors, computers and electrical equipment used in AI infrastructure. Korean coverage from Yonhap and ChosunBiz adds that working-day-adjusted daily exports rose 76% to $5.24 billion, with petroleum products up 80% to $6.92 billion.

How it works in practice: one country's chips taking nearly half of a near-record $115 billion monthly export total is a direct read on hyperscaler capital plans for 2027. The demand signal comes from AI infrastructure buildout, not consumer markets — the ministry attributes chip growth to continued big tech investment in AI facilities. For teams planning AI products and automation workloads, the practical assumptions are that compute supply is being booked far ahead, memory pricing stays elevated and server capacity remains scarce into next year. Budget inference and training costs with no near-term price relief, and treat hardware lead times as a planning variable in any deployment roadmap. Automation pipelines compete for the same capacity pools, so scheduling flexibility around peak demand windows is worth designing in from the start.