South Korea's October exports rise 93.7% to $115.3bn as chip exports jump 259% on AI data-centre buying

South Korea's exports rose 93.7% in October from a year earlier, to $115.28bn, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources said. Xinhua reported the data on Sunday 1 November; the ministry's English release is dated 2 November. Imports rose 36.0% to $72.78bn, leaving a trade surplus of $42.50bn. It was the second month in a row that exports topped $110bn and the surplus topped $40bn, the ministry said, and exports for January to October reached $930.0bn, the first time the ten-month total has passed $900bn.

Semiconductors drove it. The ministry said chip exports rose 259.4% to $56.44bn, and tied the rise to AI infrastructure investment by the world's big technology companies. Xinhua gives the same figure, and Yonhap, in a report carried by The Korea Times, rounds it to $56.4bn. Electrical equipment exports rose 74.0% to a monthly record, which the ministry put down to demand from AI data centres.

Exports to China rose 133.6% to $26.98bn and exports to the United States 185.8% to $24.90bn, the ministry said.

The ministry's figures are the first official trade data of the month from a major chip-exporting country, which makes them an early public reading of how much the world is buying in AI hardware. They arrived days after a sharp fall in US technology shares, which the Switchboard ran on 31 October.

• Confirmed October exports rose 93.7% to $115.28bn, imports rose 36.0% to $72.78bn and the surplus was $42.50bn; January–October exports reached $930.0bn. Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources
• Confirmed Semiconductor exports rose 259%, and electrical equipment exports rose 74.0% to a monthly record on AI data-centre demand. Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources
• Reported October chip exports rose 259 percent to $56.4bn, Yonhap reported. Yonhap, via The Korea Times