It has been warned that Korea’s ICT industry, which has shown low growth for years, is likely to record its first zero growth this year. The industry is forecast to be more affected than before by the increasing international presence of Chinese ICT companies while the sales of major items such as smartphones and digital TVs remain stagnant.
According to the Korea Information Society Development Institute’s report released on Jan. 6, Korea’s ICT manufacturing output showed solid growth between 1995 and 2008, but has remained sluggish since the following year, and signals of shrinking are being witnessed as of late.
“The ICT industry of Korea is estimated to grow by less than 1 percent in 2016,” the institute explained, adding, “The gross domestic product in this industry has continued to fall year-on-year for five quarters in a row since the first quarter of 2014, when it totaled 36.5 trillion won.”
The equipment investment in the sector has continued to decline all the way since the second quarter of last year, too. Sluggish production and investment have led to a decline in exports. The total exports from the sector, which averaged approximately 60 trillion won in each recent quarter to account for 30 percent of Korea’s quarterly exports, showed a decreasing increment in 2013 along with negative growth in 2014.