Corporate growth, profitability improve in Q3 on semiconductor uptrend: BOK

Korean companies reported improved overall growth and profitability in the third quarter, driven by robust semiconductor exports amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, the central bank said Wednesday. The combined sales of 26,067 companies subject to external audits rose 2.1 percent from a year earlier in the July-September period, reversing a 0.7 percent on-year decline in the second quarter, according to data from the Bank of Korea (BOK). "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," Moon Sang-yoon, chief of the BOK's corporate statistics team, told a press briefing. Sales growth in the machinery and electrical and electronics industries jumped 8.9 percent, more than quadrupling from 2.2 percent in the previous quarter. Excluding these industries, the sales growth rate stood at around 1.1 percent. "The strong performance by some large e-commerce retailers, increased sales of imported electric vehicles and solid earnings at digital platform companies alsoWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times