Maurice, you are right on how handsomely Korea has benefited from being the pioneer in CDMA technology.
10-27-98 IT Sector Posts $8.6 Billion in Surplus
Korea's telecommunications equipment and semiconductor makers have shipped $21.56 billion worth of products overseas in the first nine months of
this year, or 72.3 percent of their annual $29.8-billion target, the Ministry of Information and Communication said yesterday.
Their imports stood at $12.96 billion, posting a sectoral trade surplus of $8.6 billion, the ministry said in a report on business trends in the information
and technology (IT) industry.
While exports slowed by 5.9 percent from last year, imports plunged 20.9 percent during the nine-month period due to flagging domestic demand, the
report said.
Among export products, satellite broadcast receiving equipment showed strong growth with $50 million in exports, an increase of 82.7 percent from last
year. (NIS) The ministry attributed the increase to the start of digital TV broadcasting in Britain last month and the planned service launch in the United
States next month.
Exports of mobile phone handsets also showed robust growth with $980 million, up 62.9 percent from $600 million last year. The exports focused on
the U.S. and Hong Kong markets, which adopted code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. Korea was the first country in the world to
commercialize CDMA technology in mobile handsets.
Exports of personal computers rose 58.3 percent to $180 million, boosted by a growth in shipments under original equipment manufacture (OEM) bases.
Memory chips, a key export item in the IT industry, decreased 0.3 percent to $4.17 billion from the corresponding period of last year.
By region, Asia, which contains such major markets as Japan, China and Hong Kong, remained the largest export market with $10.16 billion, or 47.1
percent of the total export volume.
The U.S. market was second with $6.26 billion or 29 percent, followed by Europe, which assumes 18.8 percent or $4.06 billion, the report showed.
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