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South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung arrived in China on Sunday for a four-day visit, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years, and his trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.And he hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.”China is a very important cooperative partner in moving toward peace and unification on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee said during a meeting with Korean residents in Beijing, according to Yonhap news agency.Lee added his visit “would serve as a new starting point to fill in the gaps in Korea-China relations, restore them to normal and upgrade them to a new level”.Hours before Lee departed for Beijing, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan — its first test of the year.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence.”China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening,” he told AFP.Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday, he said that he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.- Trade, AI and K-pop -On economic ties, Lee has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.He is bringing with him a large delegation of executives from some of South Korea’s biggest and best-known firms including Samsung — one of the world’s top memory chip makers which produces crucial components for the booming AI industry.Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair, Chung Eui-sun, is also part of the delegation alongside figures from the entertainment and gaming industries.A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.Lee will then travel to the financial hub of Shanghai, home to a substantial South Korean business community, where he will attend a startup summit and visit the former headquarters of the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Gyeongju in South Korea — a meeting Seoul framed at the time as a reset following years of tense relations.The South Korean president plans to pitch a potential role for China in his efforts to rekindle frayed ties with the North, which is heavily dependent on Beijing as a trading partner.Officials also hope the meetings will lead to China easing an unofficial ban on imports of South Korean pop culture, in place for almost a decade.”China’s official position is that there is no such thing as a ban on Korean content, but from our perspective the situation looks somewhat different,” said Wi, the presidential adviser.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung arrived in China on Sunday, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his four-day trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.And he hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.Hours before Lee departed for Beijing, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan — its first test of the year.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence.”China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening,” he told AFP.Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.”Taking sides only worsens tensions,” he told journalists last month.And he has long dodged questions about whether Seoul would intervene in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out using force to seize.Lee said in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday that he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.- Trade, AI and K-pop -On economic ties, Lee has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.He is bringing with him a large delegation of executives from some of South Korea’s biggest and best-known firms including Samsung — one of the world’s top memory chip makers which produces crucial components for the booming AI industry.Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair, Chung Eui-sun, is also part of the delegation alongside figures from the entertainment and gaming industries.A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.Lee will then travel to the financial hub of Shanghai, home to a substantial South Korean business community, where he will attend a startup summit and visit the former headquarters of the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Gyeongju in South Korea — a meeting Seoul framed at the time as a reset following years of tense relations.The South Korean president plans to pitch a potential role for China in his efforts to rekindle frayed ties with the North, which is heavily dependent on Beijing as a trading partner.Officials also hope the meetings will lead to China easing an unofficial ban on imports of South Korean pop culture, in place for almost a decade.”China’s official position is that there is no such thing as a ban on Korean content, but from our perspective the situation looks somewhat different,” said Wi, the presidential adviser.

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung left for China on Sunday, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his four-day trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory.The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join.Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.And he hopes to possibly harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.Hours before Lee departed for Beijing, Seoul’s military said the North had fired a ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan — its first test of the year.Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor.But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence.”China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening,” he told AFP.Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.”Taking sides only worsens tensions,” he told journalists last month.And he has long dodged questions about whether Seoul would intervene in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, which Beijing has not ruled out using force to seize.Lee said in an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Friday that he “clearly affirms” that “respecting the ‘one-China’ principle and maintaining peace and stability in Northeast Asia, including in the Taiwan Strait, are very important”.- Trade, AI and K-pop -On economic ties, Lee has called for South Korea and China to work towards “more horizontal and mutually beneficial” trade.He is bringing with him a large delegation of executives from some of South Korea’s biggest and best-known firms including Samsung — one of the world’s top memory chip makers which produces crucial components for the booming AI industry.Hyundai Motor Group’s executive chair, Chung Eui-sun, is also part of the delegation alongside figures from the entertainment and gaming industries.A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.Lee will then travel to the financial hub of Shanghai, home to a substantial South Korean business community, where he will attend a startup summit and visit the former headquarters of the Korean government-in-exile during Japanese rule.Xi and Lee last met in November on the sidelines of a regional summit in Gyeongju in South Korea — a meeting Seoul framed at the time as a reset following years of tense relations.The South Korean president plans to pitch a potential role for China in his efforts to rekindle frayed ties with the North, which is heavily dependent on Beijing as a trading partner.Officials also hope the meetings will lead to China easing an unofficial ban on imports of South Korean pop culture, in place for almost a decade.”China’s official position is that there is no such thing as a ban on Korean content, but from our perspective the situation looks somewhat different,” said Wi, the presidential adviser.

Tesla’s sales fell in 2025, the company reported Friday, ceding its position as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker for the year to Chinese auto giant BYD.The American company led by Elon Musk logged 418,227 deliveries in the final three months of the year, taking its full-year sales figure to around 1.64 million EVs.This marked a drop in sales of more than eight percent compared with 2024.A day prior, BYD said that it sold 2.26 million EVs last year.Analysts had expected Tesla’s sales in the final quarter to slow less, to 449,000, according to a FactSet consensus.The pullback comes amid the elimination of a $7,500 US tax credit at the end of September 2025, with industry watchers noting it will take time for EV demand to rebalance.But even before then, Tesla had seen sales struggle in key markets over CEO Musk’s political support of US President Donald Trump and other far-right politicians. Tesla has also been grappling with rising competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, and from European giants.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, unveiled record EV sales in the past year on Thursday.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995 and originally specialized in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive market for new energy vehicles, a term used to describe various vehicles from fully electric ones to plug-in hybrids. China is the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.BYD is now looking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.While BYD and other Chinese EV producers come up against hefty tariffs in the United States, the company’s success is picking up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and in Europe.Tesla only narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with the US company’s 1.79 million outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.Tesla shares closed 2.6 percent down in New York on Friday.Analysts at Wedbush Securities noted that Tesla’s quarterly sales figure remained better than some had speculated.They flagged that the company faces a “more difficult demand environment following the end of the EV tax credit while Europe remains a headwind to its deliveries.”The company still sees challenges obtaining certain regulatory approval in Europe — relating to self-driving technology — with sales potentially rebounding once the regulatory hurdles are cleared.”Sales around smaller and emerging markets have started to see larger growth metrics than expectations which look to offset the declines in key regions like China and Europe,” Wedbush analysts said.

Stock markets mostly rose on Friday, the first trading day of 2026, with London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index reaching 10,000 points for the first time.After indices smashed records in 2025, ending with double-digit annual gains, London continued the trend in early new year deals.The capital’s top-tier index — featuring the likes of energy group BP, telecoms firm Vodafone and banking giant HSBC — gained more than one percent to reach an all-time high of 10,046.25 points soon after the start of trading Friday.It gave up much of its gains but still ended the day up 0.2 percent to set a fresh closing record.”The FTSE 100 hit the 10,000 jackpot level immediately after rounding off a tremendous year for UK shares,” noted Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell trading group.The index climbed more than 21 percent in 2025, the biggest rise for 16 years, helped in large part by cuts to British interest rates alongside reductions to borrowing costs by the US Federal Reserve as global inflation largely retreated.Helping the FTSE 100 to its new record Friday was another solid gain to the share price of gold miner Fresnillo, whose stock rocketed 436 percent last year as the precious metal’s price struck multiple record highs.Paris and Frankfurt also rose on Friday after Hong Kong led Asian gains, closing up 2.8 percent.Wall Street’s major indices mostly closed higher, with the broad-based S&P 500 up 0.2 percent and the Dow adding 0.7 percent.”AI-related names have been at the forefront of today’s strength in international markets, drawing support from news that Baidu’s chip unit filed for an IPO in Hong Kong,” said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O’Hare.Also on Friday on the Hong Kong stock exchange, shares in Chinese chip designer Biren Technology soared as much as 119 percent in the exchange’s first listing of the year. It closed at HK$34.46, off its intra-day high of HK$42.88 but well up on its offer price of HK$19.60.The Shanghai-based firm’s listing raised more than $700 million, suggesting that investor appetite for anything related to AI remains insatiable.”The industry is in a flourishing stage, with many firms striving for breakthroughs and significant growth potential,” said Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities.The surge in the tech sector on vast amounts of cash pumped into artificial intelligence helped push stock markets to record highs last year, and propelled AI chip juggernaut Nvidia to become the world’s first $5 trillion company. Concerns that valuations of AI stocks are too high, however, gnawed at investors late in 2025. Briefing.com’s O’Hare said Friday’s “news should be encouraging to investors who are worried that overall AI investment could be on the verge of stalling or turning.”Shares in Tesla dropped 2.6 percent on Wall Street after the company ceded the title of the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker to Chinese auto giant BYD for 2025.Oil prices slid, having lost nearly 20 percent last year on an oversupplied market.- Key figures at around 2100 GMT – New York – Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 48,382.39 points (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,858.47 (close)New York – Nasdaq Composite: FLAT at 23,235.63 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,951.14 (close)Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 8,195.21 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 24,539.34 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.8 percent at 26,338.47 (close)Shanghai – market closed for holidayTokyo – market closed for holidayEuro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1720 from $1.1750 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3460 from $1.3478 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.85 yen from 156.66 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.07 pence from 87.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.2 percent at $60.75 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $57.30 per barrelburs-rl-bys/aha

Tesla’s sales fell in 2025, the company reported Friday, ceding its position as the world’s biggest electric vehicle maker for the year to Chinese auto giant BYD.The American company led by Elon Musk logged 418,227 deliveries in the final three months of the year, taking its full-year sales figure to around 1.64 million EVs.This marked a drop in sales of more than eight percent compared with 2024.A day prior, BYD said that it sold 2.26 million EVs last year.Analysts had expected Tesla’s sales in the final quarter to slow less, to 449,000, according to a FactSet consensus.The pullback comes amid the elimination of a $7,500 US tax credit at the end of September 2025, with industry watchers noting it will take time for EV demand to rebalance.But even before then, Tesla had seen sales struggle in key markets over CEO Musk’s political support of US President Donald Trump and other far-right politicians. Tesla has also been grappling with rising competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, and from European giants.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, unveiled record EV sales in the past year on Thursday.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995 and originally specialized in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive market for new energy vehicles, a term used to describe various vehicles from fully electric ones to plug-in hybrids. China is the world’s largest market for new energy vehicles.BYD is now looking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.While BYD and other Chinese EV producers come up against hefty tariffs in the United States, the company’s success is picking up in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and in Europe.Tesla only narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with US company’s 1.79 million outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.Tesla shares dipped 0.5 percent in early trading in New York on Friday.Analysts at Wedbush Securities noted that Tesla’s quarterly sales figure remained better than some had speculated.They flagged that the company faces a “more difficult demand environment following the end of the EV tax credit while Europe remains a headwind to its deliveries.”The company still sees challenges obtaining certain regulatory approval in Europe — relating to self-driving tech — with sales potentially rebounding once the regulatory hurdles are cleared.”Sales around smaller and emerging markets have started to see larger growth metrics than expectations which look to offset the declines in key regions like China and Europe,” Wedbush analysts said.

Markets made a bright start to 2026 on Friday but volumes were thin with Tokyo and Shanghai still closed as investors awaited fresh direction from Wall Street.Stocks had a bumper 2025, with the S&P adding 16.4 percent, the tech-rich Nasdaq 20.4 percent and London’s FTSE enjoying its merriest Christmas in 16 years.In Asia, Seoul stocks whooshed 75 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index bounced 28 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rocketed more than 26 percent.”Naturally, the start of the new year comes with the question everyone asks moving from one year to the next: will this continue? The consensus is that, yes, it will,” said Kyle Rodda at Australian brokerage Capital.com.”When it comes to the all important US economy, Wall Street is pricing in growth will accelerate this year while inflation still moderates and interest rates get cut. Meanwhile, analysts predict that corporate fundamentals will improve,” Rodda said.Hong Kong led Asian gains on Friday, climbing 2.8 percent with chip designer Biren Technologies soaring as much as 119 percent in the exchange’s first listing of the year. It closed at HK$34.46, off its intra-day high of HK$42.88 but well up on its offer price of HK$19.60.The Shanghai-based firm’s listing raised more than $700 million, suggesting that investor appetite for anything related to artificial intelligence remains insatiable.Biren “enjoys scarcity value and high market attention”, said Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities. “The industry is in a flourishing stage, with many firms striving for breakthroughs and significant growth potential,” Ng said.Search-engine giant Baidu jumped more than nine percent after saying its AI chip unit Kunlunxin had filed a listing application in Hong Kong.Taipei, Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila also advanced while Seoul’s Kospi, which soared 76 percent in 2025 in large part due to the AI boom, rose 2.3 percent.Samsung Electronics added seven percent after co-CEO Jun Young Hyun said customers had praised its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, saying that “Samsung is back”, Bloomberg News reported.Europe joined the rally, with London, Paris and Frankfurt all higher in early trade.After volatile recent days following record highs for silver, precious metals started the new year on a bright note with gold up 0.64 percent per ounce and silver 1.5 percent shinier.Key figures at around 0815 GMT – Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.8 percent at 26,338.47 (close)Shanghai – market closed for holidayTokyo – market closed for holidayLondon – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,947.20Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1732 from $1.1750 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3463 from $1.3478 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.95 from 156.66 yenEuro/pound: DOWN at 87.15 pence from 87.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $61.10 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $57.67 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 48,063.29 points (close)burs-jug-stu/mtp/ceg

Asian markets made a bright start to 2026 on Friday but volumes were thin with Tokyo and Shanghai still closed as investors awaited fresh direction from Wall Street.Stocks had a bumper 2025, with the S&P adding 16.4 percent, the tech-rich Nasdaq 20.4 percent and London’s FTSE enjoying its merriest Christmas in 16 years.In Asia, Seoul stocks whooshed 75 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index bounced 28 percent and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rocketed more than 26 percent.”Naturally, the start of the new year comes with the question everyone asks moving from one year to the next: will this continue? The consensus is that, yes, it will,” said Kyle Rodda at Australian brokerage Capital.com.”When it comes to the all important US economy, Wall Street is pricing in growth will accelerate this year while inflation still moderates and interest rates get cut. Meanwhile, analysts predict that corporate fundamentals will improve,” Rodda said.Hong Kong was up 2.2 percent Friday with chip designer Biren Technologies roaring 80 percent higher after its initial public offering.The Shanghai-based firm’s listing raised more than $700 million, suggesting that investor appetite for anything related to artificial intelligenge remains insatiable.Biren “enjoys scarcity value and high market attention”, said Kenny Ng, a strategist at China Everbright Securities. “The industry is in a flourishing stage, with many firms striving for breakthroughs and significant growth potential,” Ng said.Search-engine giant Baidu jumped almost seven percent after saying its AI chip unit Kunlunxin had filed a listing application in Hong Kong.Taipei, Sydney, Jakarta, Manila and Singapore also advanced while while Seoul’s Kospi, which soared 76 percent in 2025 in large part due to AI boom, was up 1.7 percent.Samsung Electronics added three percent after co-CEO Jun Young Hyun said customers had praised its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, some saying that “Samsung is back”, Bloomberg News reported.After volatile recent days, following record highs for silver, precious metals started the new year on a bright note with gold up 0.64 percent per ounce and silver 1.5 percent shinier.Key figures at around 0430 GMT – Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.2 percent at 26,189.79Shanghai – market closed for holidayTokyo – market closed for holidayEuro/dollar: UP at $1.1757 from $1.1750 on WednesdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3480 from $1.3478 Dollar/yen: UP at 156.84 from 156.66 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.22 pence from 87.18 penceBrent North Sea Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $61.17 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.6 percent at $57.74 per barrelNew York – Dow: DOWN 0.6 percent at 48,063.29 points (close)London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,931.38 (close)burs-jug-stu/mtp

Chinese auto giant BYD sold 2.26 million electric vehicles last year, a company statement showed Thursday, setting a new record for any firm globally.The figure puts BYD in pole position to outstrip Elon Musk’s Tesla in the annual category for the first time, with the lagging Texas-based firm having previously announced 1.22 million in 2025 EV sales by the end of September.Tesla is expected to announce its total EV sales for last year on Friday.Shenzhen-based BYD, which also produces hybrid cars, announced the data in a statement published to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, where it is listed.Known as “Biyadi” in Chinese — or by the English slogan “Build Your Dreams” — BYD was founded in 1995, originally specialising in battery manufacturing.The automotive juggernaut has come to dominate China’s highly competitive new energy vehicle market — the world’s largest.Now it is seeking to expand its presence overseas, as increasingly price-wary consumption patterns in China weigh on profitability.BYD and its Chinese competitors face hefty tariffs in the United States.But its success is growing in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe — to the consternation of traditional industry heavyweights from the continent.Tesla narrowly beat BYD in annual EV sales in 2024, with US company’s 1.79 million just outpacing the latter’s 1.76 million.This year, Musk’s firm has seen sales struggle in key markets over the CEO’s political support of US President Donald Trump and far-right politicians.Tesla has also faced rising EV competition from BYD and other Chinese companies, as well as from European giants.

Soaring global demand for semiconductors fuelled by a boom in artificial intelligence sent South Korea’s exports to their highest-ever level in 2025, official data showed Thursday.Total exports last year were valued at over $700 billion, according to data from Seoul’s industry ministry, up 3.8 percent from the previous year.The worldwide surge in interest in artificial intelligence saw semiconductor industry exports reach $173.4 billion in 2025 — a record high and an increase of more than 20 percent from the previous year, the ministry said.High-priced memory chips used in AI data centres were in strong demand, they added.Semiconductor exports in December alone rose more than 40 percent year-on-year, posting gains for a tenth consecutive month and marking the highest monthly figure on record.South Korean tech juggernaut Samsung Electronics is one of the world’s top memory-chip makers, providing crucial components for the AI industry and the infrastructure it relies on.The country is also home to SK hynix, another key player in the global semiconductor market.And South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has vowed to triple spending on AI this year — a move aimed at propelling the country into the ranks of the world’s top three AI powers behind the United States and China.Cars, South Korea’s other key export, also performed strongly, with auto shipments rising to $72 billion, the highest on record despite US tariff pressures.Other sectors like agriculture and cosmetics also recorded their highest-ever figures, buoyed by strong global interest in the country’s pop culture powerhouse, its food and beauty products.- ‘Challenging conditions’ -Exports rose everywhere except to the United States and China, weighed down by tariffs on steel, automobiles and machinery.Asia’s fourth-largest economy was initially hit with a 25 percent across-the-board tariff by the United States but managed to secure a last-minute agreement for a reduced 15 percent rate.South Korea is one of Washington’s biggest trade partners.The new record was “achieved amid challenging domestic and external conditions”, industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said in a statement.It also “serves as an indicator of the South Korean economy’s solid resilience and growth potential,” he said.But, he warned, “export conditions this year are expected to remain difficult, as uncertainties persist in the trade environment, including the sustainability of semiconductor demand”.