Chip prices pushed South Korea's real national income up 18.8% year-on-year, while third-quarter GDP grew 1.0% on the quarter, ahead of the 0.7% forecast. From Malaysia to Mexico, AI hardware exports boomed as household confidence and consumption weakened.
Skylab Intelligence notes Korea’s AI memory cycle is lifting both chip exports and domestic fab-tool spending, with semiconductors accounting for about half of the Q3 expansion. Source
South Korea's advance third-quarter GDP grew 1.0% quarter-on-quarter, against 0.7% in the Reuters poll (previous: 0.6%) and the Bank of Korea's August forecast of 0.3%. Semiconductors accounted for about half of the expansion, said central bank official Lee Dong-won. Exports rose 2.3% on the quarter and facility investment 4.1%. Consumers sat it out: private consumption fell 0.2%, the first decline in nearly four years.
