South Korea October Exports Rise 93.7% as Chip Exports Jump 259.4%

South Korea's chip exports rose 259.4% from a year earlier to $56.44 billion in October, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Nov. 1, and the ministry tied the jump to AI infrastructure spending.

Chips made up 48.9% of all exports, the highest share the ministry has recorded for an October. Total exports rose 93.7% to $115.28 billion on a preliminary customs basis, slightly above the 93.2% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. Reuters called it the sharpest annual jump in more than 50 years. Without chips, exports still grew about 34%, according to the Asia Business Daily's reading of the release.

The ministry attributed the chip surge to continued excess demand centered on DRAM and to sustained rises in fixed contract prices for both DRAM and NAND flash, as large technology companies keep investing in AI facilities, the Asia Business Daily reported. That is a price effect as well as a volume effect, and the release does not split the two or break out high-bandwidth memory (HBM).

Computer exports, which include enterprise solid-state drives for AI servers, rose 496.6%, Reuters reported. Chip shipments to the United States rose 497%, the 10th straight month of triple-digit growth. Total exports to the US rose 185.8% to $24.9 billion, and exports to China rose 133.6% to $26.98 billion.

How the Base Year Distorts the October Comparison

October 2025 was a weak base. The Chuseok holiday fell in October that year, so this October had 22 working days, two more than a year earlier, according to the Herald Business. On a per-working-day basis, exports averaged $5.24 billion a day, up 76.1%. That is still a very large gain, but it is smaller than the headline 93.7%.

October was also lower than September in dollar terms. September exports were $121.1 billion, and the chip total has stayed above $50 billion for two months in a row. Back-calculating from the 259.4% growth rate puts October 2025 chip exports at roughly $15.7 billion; that is Voltgrid's arithmetic, not a ministry figure.

Why South Korea's Chip Exports Matter for Memory Makers

The trade data lines up with what the two largest memory makers reported last week. Samsung's results showed record memory sales and a Q3 operating profit of KRW 107.4 trillion, and SK hynix's Q3 profit reached 83.3 trillion won. Samsung also said its HBM supply is sold out for 2027, and the DRAM contract price hit a record, as Voltgrid reported on Oct. 30. The customs data shows that demand in shipments.

For data-center builders, the read-across is supply, not just price: if memory is the bottleneck for AI servers, a country shipping nearly half its exports as chips is a direct gauge of how fast that bottleneck is being filled.

Why the $1 Trillion Export Mark Is Not Confirmed Yet

The $1 trillion annual mark is a ministry expectation, not a result. Exports for January to October totaled $930 billion, up 60.6% from $579.06 billion a year earlier, and trade minister Kim Jung-kwan said it is becoming certain that annual exports will reach $1 trillion within November. Reuters said that would make South Korea the fourth country to pass the mark, after the US, China and Germany.

The October numbers are preliminary customs data and can be revised. The release also does not name which companies or products account for the gain.