Memory demand lifts Korea's output and Japan's chip exports

Demand for memory chips is showing up from several directions at once. It appears in South Korea’s September factory data, in Japan’s chip exports and in a reported push by Chinese cloud companies to lock in long-term supply from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix.

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Chips drive Korea’s biggest output jump since 2011

South Korea’s industrial production grew 3 percent in September from August, The Korea Herald reported. It cited figures the Ministry of Data and Statistics released on Friday, Oct 30. Chips led the gain. According to The Korea Herald, no month had seen a faster rise since March 2011, when output climbed 3.4 percent.

Factories were not the only part of the economy to grow. Retail sales and facility investment, which tracks spending on plants and equipment, also rose in September, The Korea Herald reported. The Korea Herald said it was the first month since June in which all three main indicators increased together.

Korea’s trade figures for chips moved in the same direction. The country’s export value index for semiconductors, which sets the 2020 level at 100, stood at 733.03 in September 2026. That was 29.42% above August and 268.08% above September of last year. In other words, the value of Korea’s chip exports in September was more than seven times its 2020 level.

Chinese buyers seek decade-long memory deals

Alibaba, Tencent and ByteDance have offered Samsung Electronics and SK hynix long-term supply agreements running as long as 10 years to secure memory chips, Maeil Business Newspaper reported on Oct 27. The newspaper labeled the story exclusive. Such agreements commit a buyer and a supplier to deliveries over a set period, rather than order by order.

On Oct 28, Maeil Business Newspaper ran a follow-up. It described demand from Chinese artificial intelligence companies as setting off a scramble for Korean memory chips as supply grows tighter.

Japan’s exporters are seeing the same pull. The country’s chip exports rose 41%, Nikkei Asia reported on Oct 30, Korea time. Nikkei Asia credited the increase to AI demand and higher memory prices.

Korea’s own export price data show how far memory prices have come. The export price index for DRAM, the fast working memory used in computers and servers, reached 289.16 in September 2026, measured in US dollars with 2020 set at 100. It rose 2.26% from August and 247.72% from a year earlier. Since January, it has gained 96.12%.

Flash memory, the kind that keeps data when the power is off, took a small step back in the month. Its export price index stood at 245.72 in September 2026, down 0.69% from August. From a year earlier, it was up 244.05%. Readers who want to know which companies make each type can see who makes DRAM, NAND and HBM.

Korea’s two largest memory makers sit at the center of both sides of this picture. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are the suppliers the Chinese cloud firms reportedly approached, and their chips are a large part of the export figures above. For how investors outside Korea can hold their shares, see the routes to Korean stocks.

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Information only, not investment advice.