It is reported that global chip sales have shrunk for the first time since the beginning of 2020. This hit the Korean economy the most because its economy is highly related to the semiconductor industry and is trying to adjust to weak demand.

According to the data of Semiconductor Industry Association, the global semiconductor sales in September fell by 3% year on year, which is the first time since the beginning of 2020.

According to the data released by the Korean National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, the semiconductor output of the country’s chip manufacturers fell 3.5% year on year, which was further worse than that in August.

Other data from the Korean Bureau of Statistics show that the growth of chip inventory is still rising, reaching 54.7% in September. The shipment volume of semiconductor factories showed signs of stabilization, with a year-on-year decrease of only 0.9%.

It is reported that semiconductor is the largest source of income for the Korean economy. The Korean economy slowed down last quarter, because the weakening Korean won enlarged the trade deficit, and the rise in global interest rates also dragged down consumers’ demand for South Korean technology products exports.

Since this year, repeated epidemics, the outbreak of the Russian Ukrainian conflict and the increased risk of geopolitical conflict have cast a shadow on the profits of Korean chip manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics Co. Samsung Electronics’ latest financial report shows that the revenue in the third quarter was 76 trillion won, up 2.7% year on year; The profit was 10.8 trillion won, down 31.7% year on year.

It is said that this is the first time in the past three years that Samsung Electronics’ profits have shown negative year-on-year growth. The company said on the financial report conference call that it is expected that demand will not recover until at least the second half of 2023.