South Korea’s chip stockpiles increased by the most in more than four years, suggesting a slowdown in demand for memory chips used in electronics worldwide. The nationwide inventory jumped 53.4 percent in May from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said yesterday. An earlier 54.1 percent gain in March 2018 coincided with a slowdown in revenue growth in the chip industry. Semiconductor stockpiles have been rising on a year-on-year basis since October last year. South Korea is the world’s largest producer of memory chips, which go into everything from smartphones to laptops to cars. The mounting stockpiles come amid growing concerns over a possible global recession driven by inflationary pressure, rising interest rates, deteriorating consumer confidence and Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Overall industrial production showed a recovery from April’s fall as lockdowns in China eased. Factory output rose 7.3 percent in May from a year earlier, beating a 4 percent forecast by economists.
 

• Link : Taipei Times