Korea has for the first time become the second largest semiconductor producer in the world.

According to U.S. market research firm IHS Technology, Korea ranked second in the semiconductor production race, recording a market share of 16.2 percent last year, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on March 24.

Korea’s semiconductor output recorded sales of USD 51.5 billion last year, outpacing that of Japan, which recorded USD 43.4 billion in sales and a market share of 13.7 percent.


The U.S. was the top semiconductor maker in the world, with 52.4 percent of the market, amounting to sales of about USD 166.6 billion. Europe and Taiwan took fourth and fifth places, with market shares of 8.7 and 6.5 percent, respectively.

The output of Korean semiconductor makers has been gradually increasing, from a market share of 14.2 percent worth USD 43.7 billion in 2010. The figure was slightly down in 2011, to USD 43 billion and a 13.9 percent market share, but bounced back to USD 44.6 billion in 2012 with a 14.7 percent market share.



Today's success is attributed to Korean semiconductor makers having entered the world semiconductor market about 30 years ago. Korean semiconductor producers, like Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix, have been particularly strong in the memory market, making dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), for example.

Korea’s output and market share in the world memory market recorded sales of USD 20.3 billion in 2009, grabbing 46 percent of the market. In 2011, it saw sales of USD 30.4 billion with a 51.8 percent, and in 2013 sales hit USD 34.2 billion and grabbed 52.4 percent of the market, outperforming the U.S. that year, which recorded a market share of 27.1 percent.

Meanwhile, Korea's world market share in system semiconductors, considered to be the next growing segment of the semiconductor industry, was 16.2 percent, and 10.4 percent in optical/ discrete devices.

To strengthen the global competitiveness of the Korean semiconductor and display industries, in 2014 the government will invest a total of KRW 203 billion into research and development (R&D), four percent more than last year. It plans to focus on developing and localizing system semiconductors.

By Yoon Sojung
Korea.net Staff Writer
arete@korea.kr