Invest KOREA

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) South Korea's output in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry increased 8.6 percent last year to hit a new record high of 468.38 trillion won (US$437.94 billion), the Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday.

The increase is a turnaround from two previous years of decline that saw outbound shipments fall 2 percent in 2015 and edge down 0.7 percent in 2016. The ministry said last year marks the highest gain since 18.3 percent growth tallied in 2010.

In terms of the country's total industrial output, ICT accounted for 11.8 percent, the ministry said.

By sector, equipment for information, communication and broadcasting came to 72.9 percent, services 15.9 percent and software 11.2 percent.

Within the equipment sector, semiconductors accounted for 38.4 percent, flat displays 2.4 percent and secondary memory devices 36.1 percent. Output for handset units fell 14.2 percent as Samsung Electronics' overseas production expanded.

Large growth was notable for DRAM (60.2 percent), flash memory (56.7 percent) and organic light-emitting diode panels (33.9 percent).

In the services sector, sales in the communication segment gained 0.6 percent from the distribution of Internet of Things, while the information services sector increased 7.8 percent from growth in mobile video advertisements and electronic payments.

Wire communication services rose 2.2 percent, for-pay broadcasting 9.8 percent, internet portals 15.1 percent and information services 6.6 percent.

In software, games recorded a 7.5 percent increase and IT services such as consulting and system development 6.9 percent.

ICT output by small and medium-sized companies rose 2.8 percent to 137.6 trillion won, or 29.4 percent of the total.

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (Apr. 12, 2018)