Recent data reveals that South Korean chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix experienced an increase in sales in China last year, driven by the Chinese government's stimulus measures. According to Samsung Electronics' annual financial report, the company exported products worth 64.9 trillion won (approximately $44.8 billion) to China, marking a 53.9% increase from the previous year's 42.3 trillion won. This figure slightly surpasses Samsung's exports to the United States, which stood at 61.5 trillion won.
While the report does not detail specific export items, Samsung Electronics noted that its Xi'an-based NAND flash manufacturing subsidiary, Samsung China Semiconductor Co., generated sales of 11.2 trillion won last year, up from 8.7 trillion won the previous year. Additionally, its sales subsidiary, Shanghai Samsung Semiconductor Co., saw its 2024 sales nearly double to 30.1 trillion won from 15.6 trillion won the previous year. Samsung exports and sells mobile storage chips, including low-power double data rate (LPDDR) memory, NAND flash, image sensors, and some low-grade high-bandwidth memory (HBM) to China.
SK Hynix also reported solid growth in its Chinese operations. According to its annual audit report, SK Hynix's sales in China reached 5.6 trillion won last year, an increase from the previous year's 5.1 trillion won. Sales from SK Hynix (Wuxi) Semiconductor amounted to 13 trillion won, reflecting a 64.3% year-on-year growth.
