The volume of Korea's information technology exports continued to increase, year-on-year, in August. As reported by the Joongang Daily, exports last month were 26.4 percent higher than August of last year at $13.4 billion.The increase was mainly due to exports of semiconductors and display panels. Shipments of semiconductors increased 64.9 percent to a record $4.7 billion, mainly led by the improved memory chip industry. Exports of display panels also jumped 25.4 percent to $3.2 billion as product demand was high, especially in China, Hong Kong and the European Union.
Meanwhile, the export of cell phones decreased 18.4 percent in August to $1.8 billion, due to a drop in export unit costs, increased overseas production and low demand for ordinary cell phones.
Though smartphones are gaining popularity worldwide, local manufacturers started releasing devices relatively recently.
So, Korea remains an IT export powerhouse for the time being, but the decrease in mobile handset exports is clearly an important indicator of developments in the global marketplace and Korea's place in it.