Foreign investments into South Korea grew to a record amount in 2023, driven by optimism in the country’s prospects in technologies like semiconductor manufacturing.
Foreign direct investments into South Korea totaled around $18.8 billion in 2023, according to trade ministry data, marking a 3.4 percent year-on-year increase. This was a record amount, with the electronics sector accounting for around 16 percent ($3 billion).
Within electronics, global investors have been particularly active in semiconductor manufacturing with Taiwan and South Korea leading as the producers of the highest-performing chips. The size of the overall semiconductor market worldwide is forecasted to grow 13.1 percent in 2024 to over $588 billion, according to the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics, an industry organization.
According to a UBS investment note, «artificial intelligence and digital transformation» is one of the few attractive market drivers in 2024, most notably the «growing strategic importance of semiconductors with large parts of the value chain in Asia».
