In more than four years, South Korea's chip stockpiles increased by the most, suggesting a slowdown in demand for memory chips used in electronics worldwide.
The nationwide inventory went up 53.4% from a year ago, the statistics office said Thursday. An earlier 54.1% gain in March 2018 coincided with a slowdown in revenue growth in the memory chip industry. Semiconductor stockpiles have been rising on a year-on-year basis since October last year.
South Korea is the world's biggest producer of memory chips that go into everything from smartphones and laptops to cars. There are increasing concerns over a possible global economic recession due to rising interest rates, deteriorating consumer confidence and Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine.
The report also showed that semiconductors shipments slowed, increasing just 8.9% in May from a year earlier, for the first single-digit rise since October 2019 according to Statistics Korea. Production gains decreased to 24.3% for the slowest growth since February 2021, with the slowest growth since February 2021.
Semiconductors are the biggest driver of South Korea's economy. The company's shares from Samsung Electronics Co. to SK Hynix Inc. have declined in the past year due to concerns about future demand and global central bank policy tightening that has put pressure on investment in technology stocks.
Industrial production showed a recovery from April's fall as the impact of the lock-downs in China was lessened. In May, factory output increased by 7.3% from a year earlier, beating a 4% forecast by economists.
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