{
  "id": 327732,
  "title": "AI Boom Lifts South Korea, Taiwan Past Japan in Export Value",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/08/ai-boom-lifts-south-korea-taiwan-past-japan-in-export-value",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-08-08T18:39:29.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "BusinessKorea",
    "slug": "businesskorea",
    "url": "https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=274401"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "South Korea and Taiwan have outpaced Japan in export value for the first time in the first half of this year, according to a recent analysis by Nikkei. In the first half of 2023, South Korea's export value reached $496.3 billion, while Taiwan's was $416.6 billion. Both countries saw an increase of over 50% compared to the same period in the previous year, while Japan's export value stood at $384.4 billion, showing a mere 10% increase. The surge in export values can be attributed to the booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductors. Major players in the industry, such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix in South Korea, and TSMC in Taiwan, which produce advanced semiconductors, were instrumental in driving this export increase. The export value of integrated circuits, a key component of AI semiconductors, reached $149 billion for South Korea and $133.2 billion for Taiwan in the first half of 2023. South Korea's contribution to the global export value of integrated circuits already exceeds its annual performance from the previous year. In contrast, Japan's export value of integrated circuits remained at $21.2 billion in the first half, with its share in total exports being just 5%. Japan's strength lies in its global market dominance in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and materials. Notably, Japan's export value of semiconductor manufacturing equipment alone, amounting to $15 billion in the first half, surpassed South Korea's ($5.2 billion) and Taiwan's ($3.5 billion). However, these equipment exports alone were not enough to bridge the export value gap with South Korea and Taiwan, which specialize in high-value-added, globally sought-after advanced semiconductor products. The analysis also highlights that Japan's export value may be affected by the recent weakening of the Japanese yen, although this alone cannot fully explain the observed export value gap between the three countries. The won and the New Taiwan dollar, too, are showing signs of weakness against the U.S. dollar. Nikkei suggests that South Korea and Taiwan's success in the AI semiconductor sector, driven by giant technology companies competing in advanced AI development, cannot be dismissed as a temporary boom. It further states that if Japan fails to design a new growth model suitable for the digital era, it may continue to fall behind in both manufacturing and service industries.",
  "summary": "It was found that the export values of South Korea and Taiwan side by side surpassed Japan for the first time in the first half of this year.On Aug. 7, Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) reported this by analyzing the trade statistics of South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, along with the database of the Japa",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}