South Korea posts record $120.9 billion export month on AI chip boom

South Korea's trade ministry on October 1, 2026 announced the country's largest-ever monthly exports at $120.9 billion for September, up 83.5% year-on-year. Semiconductor shipments surged roughly 263% to a record $60.3 billion, the first month ever above that threshold, powered by voracious global demand for AI memory and logic chips. Exports to China rose 123% to $26 billion, and shipments to the United States climbed 137% to $24.33 billion, pushing the trade surplus to a record $49.85 billion. Despite the blockbuster numbers, the KOSPI index closed about 23.5% below its June peak, as investors worried about dangerous reliance on a single product category and the sustainability of the AI capex cycle. Factory PMIs across Asia confirmed broad expansion, with South Korea at 53.9 and Taiwan at 56.7, underscoring the region's role as the engine of the AI hardware boom.