Taiwan emerges as key growth market for Korean goods amid declining exports to U.S., China

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Taiwan emerges as key growth market for Korean goods amid declining exports to U.S., China

Published: 24 Jun. 2025, 18:51 Updated: 24 Jun. 2025, 22:33

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Flags of Taiwan and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co are displayed next to its headquarters in Hsinchu, Taiwan on Oct. 5, 2017. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea’s exports to Taiwan are growing rapidly, driven by rising demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips and offshore wind infrastructure. A recovery in exports of Korean consumer goods, buoyed by the global popularity of the Korean Wave, is further fueling the trend.

As exports to key markets like the United States and China slow due to protectionist trade measures, Taiwan is emerging as a critical growth market.

Korea exported $16.08 billion worth of goods to Taiwan from January to May this year, a 62.5 percent increase compared to the same period last year, according to trade data from the Korea International Trade Association released on Tuesday.

The figure marks the highest export volume to Taiwan on record for the first five months of any year.

Taiwan is now Korea’s fourth-largest export market after the United States, China and Vietnam. Just a decade ago, in 2015, it ranked eighth.

If current trends continue, total exports for the year are expected to reach a new high.

In contrast to the broader slowdown in exports, shipments to Taiwan are helping offset declines in other major markets.

Of Korea’s top 30 export destinations, Taiwan recorded the highest growth in the first five months of the year.

Containers are stacked at Pyeongtaek Port in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi on June 1. [YONHAP]

While Korea’s total exports declined 0.9 percent during the period, exports to the United States dropped 4.4 percent, and exports to China decreased 5 percent.

Exports of electric wire products to Taiwan saw the most dramatic growth, jumping 307.6 percent year on year to $168 million from January to May.

Though the category only accounted for 1 percent of total exports to Taiwan, industry insiders see strong growth potential, citing the Taiwanese government’s plan to develop 20.6 gigawatts of offshore wind power capacity by 2035.

LS Cable & System signed a 110 billion won ($80 million) deal last year to supply submarine cables to Taiwan, and its subsidiary LS Marine Solution signed a cable-laying contract this April.

“Shipments appear to have increased as construction of contracted volumes began in earnest this year,” an LS Cable official said.

Semiconductors remain Korea’s top export to Taiwan.

Shipments of memory chips reached $8.46 billion in the first five months, accounting for 52.6 percent of all Korean exports to Taiwan, up 192.9 percent from a year earlier.

When including semiconductor manufacturing equipment, chip-related goods made up 72 percent of total exports.

Industry analysts attribute much of the surge to SK hynix’s exports of HBM chips. Taiwan-based TSMC packages SK hynix HBM chips into AI accelerators at facilities in Taiwan and supplies them to Nvidia in the United States.

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and SK hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung visited Taiwan in April to meet with TSMC and other Taiwanese chipmakers, signaling a deepening of semiconductor cooperation.

SK hynix also participated in TSMC’s technology symposium held on April 23 in Santa Clara, California.

Exports of Korean consumer goods are also slowly gaining ground in Taiwan, where Japanese brands have long dominated.

Exports of passenger vehicles rose 33.3 percent to $142 million, while cosmetics exports grew 16.2 percent to $130 million in the January—May period.

Japan remains the top foreign supplier of both categories in Taiwan, but Korea’s market share is growing.

“Taiwan’s car market is still largely dominated by Japanese brands like Toyota,” the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency’s Taipei office said. “But Korean cars are gaining popularity, and the influence of Korean pop culture through media is helping broaden the appeal of Korean consumer goods.”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY NA SANG-HYEON [[email protected]]