Strong chip exports expected to spill over into private consumption from next year: BOK report
Korea's semiconductor export boom, driven by global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, is expected to give private consumption a more meaningful boost starting next year, a central bank report showed Thursday. "Recently, the Korean economy has seen a significant acceleration in growth, driven by the strong semiconductor market, but the pace of growth in private consumption…
The Bank of Korea's latest report suggests that the surge in semiconductor exports is set to positively impact private consumption starting next year. While the Korean economy has experienced robust growth, primarily fueled by the booming semiconductor market, private consumption has shown relatively slow progress. According to the BOK, in the first half of the year, Korea's economy expanded by 3.8%, with private consumption growing at a modest pace of 2.6%.
The driving force behind this growth has been exports, notably semiconductor shipments. In September alone, total exports surged by an impressive 83.5% year-on-year, reaching a record high of $120.9 billion. Semiconductor exports alone skyrocketed by 263%, topping $60.3 billion. The BOK report indicates that while private consumption has shown signs of recovery since hitting a low in the first quarter of 2025, the pace and longevity of this recovery will depend on how widely the benefits of the semiconductor export boom are distributed.
Written by urgent.news from The Korea Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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