RECORD EXPORTS: South Korea's Shipments Jump 83.5% on AI Chip Boom...

South Korea's exports jumped 83.5 percent year-on-year in September to $120.9 billion, shattering the previous monthly record set just three months earlier. Chip shipments alone—nearly half of all exports—soared 260 percent to $60.3 billion, as AI-driven global demand for memory semiconductors continues to surge. The country's two dominant chipmakers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, control roughly 80 percent of the world's high-bandwidth memory market. Through September, South Korea has already exceeded its entire 2025 export total of $709.7 billion, putting it on track to exceed the government's $1 trillion annual target.