Seoul, Nov 15 — South Korea's exports of information and communication technology (ICT) products rose at the sharpest pace on record from a year earlier in October, data showed on Sunday, driven by the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Outbound shipments of ICT products came to US$70.35 billion in October, more than tripling from $23.29 billion a year earlier, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Science and ICT.
The figure also marked the second-highest monthly total on record, just below the $75.1 billion posted in September, reports Yonhap news agency.
The report also showed ICT exports accounted for 61 percent of the country's total outbound shipments of $115.28 billion in October, with the proportion remaining above 60 percent for three consecutive months.
Exports of semiconductors shot up 259.4 percent on-year in October to $56.47 billion, driven by strong global demand for premium memory products and persistently high memory prices.
Outbound shipments of computers and accessories also reached $5.99 billion in October, growing more than fivefold from a year earlier, led by high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) for servers.
Exports of mobile phones rose 6.5 percent to $1.71 billion on the back of strong sales of premium models.
By destination, exports to China more than tripled to $27.2 billion, driven by gains in semiconductors and computers. Shipments to the United States also grew more than sixfold to $15.56 billion, the report showed.
Meanwhile, the ICT ministry said on Saturday it will inspect disruptions to domestic companies' operations following a global outage of tech giant Microsoft's services.
Microsoft 365 services experienced disruptions earlier this week, with some companies in the country reporting difficulty accessing their emails Friday.
The Ministry of Science and ICT said it plans to check the restoration of the company's services and possible damage to users in South Korea by working with Microsoft Korea.
It added that it will form a joint emergency response team with the company to continue monitoring the situation.