South Korean companies reported improved growth and profitability in the third quarter, driven by robust semiconductor exports amid an AI boom. The Bank of Korea's data shows combined sales rose 2.1 percent year-on-year, reversing a prior decline. Key factors included rising exports of high-value products like HBM and DDR5.
The Bank of Korea announced on December 17 that Korean companies saw overall improved growth and profitability in the third quarter (July-September). Combined sales of 26,067 externally audited firms rose 2.1 percent year-on-year, reversing a 0.7 percent decline in the second quarter.
Moon Sang-yoon, chief of the BOK's corporate statistics team, said at a briefing, "The increase in sales was driven by rising exports of high value-added products, such as HBM and DDR5, amid expanding global AI investment, along with higher memory prices." Sales growth in the machinery and electrical and electronics industries jumped to 8.9 percent, more than quadrupling from 2.2 percent in the previous quarter. Excluding these, growth was around 1.1 percent. Strong performance by large e-commerce retailers, increased sales of imported electric vehicles, and solid earnings at digital platform companies also contributed.
Profitability indicators improved, with the operating profit margin at 6.1 percent, up from 5.8 percent a year earlier. Financial stability strengthened too: the debt-to-equity ratio fell to 88.8 percent from 89.8 percent in the second quarter, and reliance on borrowing dropped 0.4 percentage points to 26.2 percent.
Moon added, "Negative effects from new U.S. tariffs continued into the third quarter, but uncertainty has largely eased, and the strong performance of the semiconductor industry helped offset the impact." This highlights how the AI-driven semiconductor uptrend is bolstering South Korea's corporate sector.
