Volume, price and capacity indicators for Korea's semiconductor industry, monthly since 2005, built only from official statistics.
Production and export volume growth (lines, left axis) vs DRAM export price growth (bars, right axis), monthly YoY
How to read: in a demand-led rally, volume growth should surge along with prices. When volume growth stays modest while prices spike, most of the revenue jump is a price effect. Combined with the falling utilization index above, it points to a supply-side squeeze: the HBM transition shrinking conventional DRAM output.
Rally momentum: DRAM export price MoM (3-month average). Above 0% means prices keep rising; shrinking bars mean the rally is losing speed
MoM compares with the previous month; YoY compares with the same month a year earlier. Semiconductor data is volatile month to month, so YoY is the safer way to read the trend.
The headline you usually see, "semiconductor exports hit a record $XX billion", is a value figure. Value is the product of two things.
Value alone cannot tell you whether Korea sold more chips or simply sold them at higher prices. This page separates the two, and adds a third dimension: how hard the fabs are actually running (capacity).
All indices are set to 2020 average = 100. A production index of 186 means output was 86% above the 2020 level. Because the base is shared, different indicators can be compared on one chart. Monthly figures are seasonally adjusted (export volume, export price and export value are raw series).
Statistics Korea's industrial activity release comes out at the end of the second month after the reference month, and trade statistics in the following month. So the latest month here is usually two months behind.
HBM, wafers and the volume indices. HBM stacks 8 to 12 DRAM dies, so it is already included in Statistics Korea's "semiconductor manufacturing" and in DRAM statistics. But HBM yields far fewer bits per wafer: TSV (through-silicon via) area makes each die larger than commodity DRAM, one bad die scraps the whole stack, and a non-storage base die is added. Together, HBM consumes roughly three times the wafer area per bit. If wafer input stays flat while the HBM mix grows, total DRAM bits stagnate or fall. This is one reason volume indices lag prices, and if the utilization index falls at the same time, wafer input itself is shrinking.
Volume indicators are 2020=100 indices; exports are in US$ millions. Percentages in parentheses are changes versus the base month. "Implied DRAM volume" divides DRAM export value by the DRAM price index: what the exports would have been worth at 2020 prices.
The global market is tracked two ways: WSTS global semiconductor revenue (value) and SEMI silicon wafer shipments (the raw material input for every chip = volume). Years when value swings far more than volume are years when prices moved.
Global semiconductor revenue (WSTS, annual, US$B) · value
Global silicon wafer shipments (SEMI, annual, million sq. inches) · volume
| Indicator | Agency · statistic | KOSIS table | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Production, shipment, inventory indices (semiconductor manufacturing C261) | Statistics Korea, Mining & Manufacturing Survey | DT_1F02001 | 2020=100, seasonally adjusted |
| Production capacity & utilization indices (C261) | Statistics Korea, Mining & Manufacturing Survey | DT_1F32001 | 2020=100, utilization seasonally adjusted |
| Manufacturing average utilization (%) | Statistics Korea, Mining & Manufacturing Survey | DT_1F32002 | actual utilization % |
| Semiconductor export volume & value indices | Bank of Korea, trade indices | DT_403Y002 · DT_403Y001 | 2020=100 |
| DRAM, flash, system semiconductor export price indices | Bank of Korea, export & import price survey | DT_402Y016 | 2020=100, US dollar basis |
| Semiconductor exports (by item) | MSIT, ICT trade statistics | DT_092_115_2009_S023 | customs basis, US$ |
| Semiconductor equipment import volume index | Bank of Korea, trade indices | DT_403Y004 | 2020=100 |
| Samsung & SK hynix share prices (reference) | Yahoo Finance, monthly adjusted close | — | KRW, split-adjusted |
| Global semiconductor revenue | WSTS / SIA annual releases | — | US$B |
| Global silicon wafer shipments | SEMI SMG annual releases | — | million sq. inches |
| DRAM, NAND, foundry market share | TrendForce quarterly press releases | — | 2Q 2026, revenue basis |
All Korean statistics are collected through the KOSIS (Korean Statistical Information Service) Open API; the only processing applied is YoY, 3-month moving average and annual average calculations. Statistics Korea's "semiconductor manufacturing" covers memory (DRAM, NAND, HBM), system semiconductors and foundry. HBM is built from stacked DRAM dies, so it sits inside the DRAM statistics.
This page visualizes public statistics and is not investment advice on any company or security. Statistics Korea's monthly indices can be revised after release, and the latest month is preliminary.