As labor costs in China are gradually rising, IT players have started turning to establish production lines in Vietnam, increasing the country's demand for upstream semiconductors and components. The scale of South Korea's semiconductor and component exports to Vietnam has grown significantly recently, which is benefiting South Korea's overall exports to Vietnam.
In 2012, Vietnam surpassed Indonesia and Taiwan and became South Korea's sixth-largest export country. For IT product exports, Vietnam was the fourth-largest in 2013, surpassing Japan and Singapore.
Semiconductor products accounted for 40.6% of South Korea and Vietnam's IT product trades in 2013, and with the addition of passive components and LCD displays, 70.3% of South Korea's IT product exports to Vietnam were semiconductors and components. These exports were mainly supplied to local IT plants.
South Korea's semiconductor exports to Vietnam have turned strong and have been growing since 2010 thanks to Samsung Electronics' handset plants in Vietnam, which started operations in 2009. With Samsung continuing to expand its capacity in Vietnam, export volume and value are both expected to grow higher each year in the future, according to Digitimes Research.
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