Korea Leads World in Exports of 4 High-tech Items

Korean electronics makers last year led the world in exports of ultra-slim TVs, LCD panels and two other high-tech items, while their Japanese competitors suffered due to the strengthening yen.

The Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun said yesterday that Korea led the world in exports of four electronics and IT items: ultra-slim TVs, LCD panels, organic light-emitting diodes, and DRAM chips.

Korea’s Samsung Electronics remained the world’s largest maker of ultra-slim TVs, with its market share rising 4.2 percentage points year-on-year to 23.2 percent last year. Korea’s LG Electronics saw market share rise 0.8 percentage point from a year earlier to 10.3 percent for third place. Japan’s Sony was second in the sector with 15 percent.

In LCDs, Samsung took first with a market share of 21.4 percent last year, up 1.4 percentage points, and Korea’s LG Display second, though its market share fell half a point to 16.5 percent.

On the other hand, Japan’s Sharp, which had ranked second in the solar cell market in 2007, dropped two notches to fourth last year. Boosted by a low-price strategy, First Solar of the U.S. ranked second in the solar cell market.

In the video camera market, Japanese giants Sony, Victor and Panasonic took the top three spots in that order, but Sony and Panasonic saw their respective market shares fall more than two percentage points.

With higher demand for fuel-efficient cars amid a surge in oil prices last year, Japan’s Toyota Motor surpassed General Motors of the U.S. as the world’s largest carmaker.

changkim@donga.com