Citigroup economists: South Korea's semiconductor exports may accelerate next year.

Jin-Wook Kim, an economist with Citigroup, wrote in a report that the growth rate of South Korea's semiconductor exports may accelerate next year. Driven by increased capital spending in the global artificial intelligence sector, Kim predicts that South Korea's chip exports will increase by around 56% in 2026, higher than the estimated 23% for 2025. In the first 20 days of December this year, South Korea's semiconductor exports reached a historic high. During the same period, the exports of chips, solid-state drives, and smartphones all saw significant increases, while the exports of cars, car parts, and steel declined. Kim expects that South Korea's overall export growth in December will reach 10% year-on-year, higher than the 8.4% year-on-year growth seen in November.