South Korea exports set to rise for ninth month on chip surge

SEOUL, Feb 27 (Reuters) – South Korea’s exports likely rose for a ninth straight month in February as a global boom in artificial intelligence investment drove a surge in chip sales, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.
Exports from Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a bellwether for global trade, were projected to have risen 24.0% from a year earlier, according to a median forecast of nine economists.
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That would be weaker than the 33.8% rise in January, when exports posted their strongest increase since August 2021, but still the second fastest year-on-year growth in the current streak that started in June 2025.
Data in January and February are often distorted due to timing differences in the Lunar New Year holidays, which were in February this year and January last year. There were 19 working days in February, compared with 22 in the same month a year before.
Chip prices are rising more sharply than expected, while stock inventories still remain low in South Korea and Taiwan, economists noted, as they expected strong momentum in semiconductor exports.