Data tracker · Updated daily
Korea Semiconductor Export Tracker
Korean exports of electronic integrated circuits (HS 8542), by destination, taken directly from Korea Customs Service records. The figures below refresh automatically each morning, Korea time. Reuse is permitted with attribution.
Destinations: $32.72 billion, split three ways
The single most misread figure in Korean chip trade is the destination column. It records where a shipment last cleared customs, not where the chip is consumed. Hong Kong is the clearest case: shipments there return almost nothing in the opposite direction, because the territory is a transit port rather than a market.
| Destination | Exports | Imports | Imports ÷ exports | Exports, y/y |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | $13.42bn | $3.55bn | 26.4% | +273.3% |
| Hong Kong | $4.37bn | $0.03bn | 0.8% | +191.9% |
| Taiwan | $3.90bn | $3.32bn | 85.1% | +13.7% |
| All other destinations | $11.04bn | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Total | $32.72bn | $8.38bn | 25.6% | +166.3% |
The fourth column is the one worth keeping. A destination that buys back a comparable volume is part of a division of labour; one that buys back almost nothing is a waypoint. On the July 2026 figures those two cases sit more than an order of magnitude apart, which no month-to-month correlation of the export series would reveal.
How these figures are compiled
- Source. Korea Customs Service open API for trade statistics by commodity and partner country, heading HS 8542 (electronic integrated circuits).
- Basis. Exports are recorded free on board, imports cost, insurance and freight. The two are therefore not perfectly comparable, and the surplus above is a customs figure rather than a balance-of-payments one.
- Revisions. Monthly figures are provisional when first released and are revised by the issuing agency. This page carries whatever the agency currently publishes.
- Frequency. The series is collected every morning at 06:50 Korea time. The most recent complete month shown is July 2026.
Citation. Dotori Economy, “Korea Semiconductor Export Tracker”, July 2026 data, compiled from Korea Customs Service records.