One Trillion Dollar Export Era: Gyeonggi Province Produces One-Third

South Korea's exports are on the verge of reaching the one trillion dollar annual milestone for the first time in history. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 1st that October exports reached $115.28 billion, a 93.7% increase compared to the same month last year, and cumulative exports from January to October reached $930 billion. The remaining gap is $70 billion. Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Kim Jeong-gwan indicated that achievement this month is virtually certain. If achieved, South Korea will become the fourth country to enter the "one trillion dollar export club" after the United States, China, and Germany, according to domestic media. However, when examining the map of this national record, one region stands out as distinctly shaded. It is Gyeonggi Province.

Based on Customs Service data, Gyeonggi Province's September exports reached $45.2 billion, a 179.7% increase year-over-year and marking 20 consecutive months of growth. The cumulative figure from January to September stands at $276.3 billion. Compared to nationwide exports during the same period (approximately $814.7 billion), Gyeonggi Province accounts for about 34%, and over 37% for September alone. This means that one out of every three dollars in national exports comes from Gyeonggi Province. A single local government is producing one-third of the historic one trillion dollar export milestone for the first time.

The engine is semiconductors. In September, Gyeonggi Province's semiconductor exports reached $32.62 billion, accounting for 72.2% of the province's total exports, with a year-over-year growth rate of 389.4%. This marks 19 consecutive months of increase. The production sites for semiconductors ($56.44 billion, 259.4% increase) and artificial intelligence (AI) server computers (496.6% increase) that boosted national exports this month are precisely in Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong, Giheung, and Icheon.

Looking deeper into the map, city names are synonymous with factory names. Pyeongtaek City, home to Samsung Electronics' campus, ranks 8th in export volume among 229 cities, counties, and districts nationwide in 2024 ($22.96 billion, according to the Korea International Trade Association), and Icheon hosts SK Hynix's headquarters factory. The map of the next decade is also being drawn in Gyeonggi Province. In Yongin, Samsung Electronics' Idong and Namsaeup National Industrial Complex recently broke ground, moving up the target for operation of the first fab to 2029, two years earlier. Reports continued that SK Hynix announced an additional investment of 21.6 trillion won in the Wonsam-myeon cluster. When adding that these companies' headquarters are located at Samsung Digital City in Yongtong, Suwon, the flow of the one trillion dollar export runs through southern Gyeonggi Province.

The challenges also lie on the same map. The glory of one trillion dollars belongs to the nation, but the burden of factories, jobs, and electricity, water, and transportation falls on the region. In a structure where the pace of the Yongin cluster and the expansion of Pyeongtaek become the nation's export performance card, semiconductor infrastructure investment is no longer a local issue but a matter of national export strategy itself. Gyeonggi Province's October export performance will be announced by the Customs Service mid-month. In that figure, which will coincide with the timing of the one trillion dollar achievement, the true owner of the record will be confirmed once again.