Memory and SSD fell into cabbage prices South Korean chips hit hard again: exports plummeted 42.5%

South Korean exports fell 7.5% in February from a year earlier to $50.1 billion, the fifth consecutive month of decline, mainly due to weak global demand for semiconductors due to the economic slowdown, South Korea's Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources said on Wednesday.

Due to falling demand and falling chip pricesExports of semiconductors, South Korea's main export, fell 42.5%, recording a trade deficit of $5.3 billion in the month.

South Korea's international trade balance has been in deficit for 12 months in a row.

It is reported that South Korea's main export project semiconductor products affected by falling prices, resulting in a decline in exports and an increase in imports of energy products are the main factors affecting South Korea's trade balance.

According to statistics, this is South Korea's continuous trade deficit from January 1995 to May 1997.An one-year trade deficit for the first time in 25 yearsAnd South Korea's international trade deficit is likely to persist in the short term.

The average price of DRAM memory used in mobile phones and personal computers plummeted 34.4% in the fourth quarter of last year, the biggest drop since 2008, compared with a 31.4% drop in the previous quarter, according to market research firm TrendForce.

Flash NAND, the main product sold to data center and enterprise customers, also fell by 27.7% and 32%, respectively.The decline in both quarters was the biggest since 2008.

The decline in market demand for PC, mobile phones and servers that began in the second half of last year exacerbated this trend. Almost all memory and flash chip manufacturers are losing money. The annual output value of the storage industry has reached US $160 billion, with a loss of US $5 billion in 2022 alone.