Don’t look now, but IT’s back

Pantech and Curitel Communications, Inc., a mobile handset manufacturer, says its factory is operating 24 hours a day, three full shifts, these days. The company’s export orders have doubled for the second half of this year compared to orders in July through December 2002. It says it has added eight new markets to its export program since June, including Russia, Thailand and several Middle East nations.
And the good feelings are not limited to that manufacturer alone. The information technology industry in Korea is waking up from a three-year hibernation.
Pantech and Curitel forecast its revenues this year at 2.5 trillion won ($2.1 billion), up 75 percent from 2002.
“Thanks to the recovery of the information technology markets in the United States, China, and Western Europe, we are expecting a record performance this year,” said No Sun-seok, an executive at the firm.
Exports are increasing across the board in the industry. According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, export growth has been good all year, but has increased more sharply in the past four months. In August, Korea exported a monthly record $4.8 billion worth of information technology products.
Imports have been increasing as well. Korea imported $3.3 billion worth of information technology components and raw materials in August, up 27 percent from the same month in 2002.
Semiconductors chips and mobile handsets are at the center of the new surge. Exports of semiconductors products dipped 6 percent in March year on year, but rebounded in April, and have been growing since then by as much as 18 percent a month.
Samsung Electronics said its revenue grew by 500 billion won in the second quarter, to 3.7 trillion won. Demand for flash memory chips for cell phones has surged, Samsung said.
In June, exports of mobile handsets rose 30 percent. In July, the growth rate was 53 percent.
Samsung Electronics said that it believes it can sell 52 million mobile handsets domestically and in export markets this year, a 20 percent increase from last year.
Exports of set-top boxes, computer games, and DVD players also have grown more than 20 percent each since July, according to the Korea Venture Business Association.

by Choi Hyung-kyu