Goldman Sachs: Korea’s October DRAM export value hits a record, while total memory exports decline month over month

Memory exports hit a record: how did they fare month over month?

In October 2026, Korea’s DRAM exports were about 33.8 billion dollars, up 595% year over year and setting a record. Total memory-product exports grew 359% year over year, topping 300% for a second consecutive month.
Despite the high year-over-year growth rate, memory exports fell from about 54.1 billion dollars in September to about 50.1 billion dollars in October, down 7% month over month. DRAM exports rose 2% month over month, while flash memory and SSD exports fell 10% and 17%, respectively.
South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy attributed export growth to continued investment in AI infrastructure by global technology giants, which has kept memory prices on an upward trend. Year-over-year comparisons should also take into account that there were 22 working days in October, two more than in the same period a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs expects Samsung Electronics’ memory business revenue to grow 358% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2026, with DRAM and NAND revenue rising 348% and 386%, respectively.
For the same period, Goldman Sachs expects SK hynix’s total revenue to grow 284% year over year, with DRAM and NAND revenue rising 294% and 260%, respectively. The two sets of figures refer to Samsung’s memory business and SK hynix’s total company revenue, respectively.

Goldman Sachs tracks HBM shipments using imports of epoxy resin and plastic film from Japan: the former corresponds to areas where SK hynix production sites are located, and the latter to areas where Samsung Electronics production sites are located. The firm says trends in imports of both materials are strongly correlated with each company’s actual HBM shipments.
As of September 2026, year-to-date epoxy resin imports in areas associated with SK hynix were up 8% year over year; plastic film imports in areas associated with Samsung were up 53%. Goldman Sachs believes the latter suggests strong growth in Samsung’s HBM shipments.
In September alone, the two import values rose 35% and 24% year over year, respectively. These figures reflect the value of materials imports in the relevant areas and serve as proxy indicators of HBM shipment volumes.

In October, display product exports rose 29% year over year, with OLED and LCD exports up 31% and 20%, respectively. South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said that Korean manufacturers’ expansion of regional electronics production had driven demand for display components.
MLCC exports rose 37% year over year, marking a sixth consecutive month of double-digit growth. Goldman Sachs expects Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ fourth-quarter MLCC revenue to rise 71% year over year, driven mainly by AI server and automotive applications.
Lithium-ion battery exports rose 21% year over year; exports and imports of semiconductor wafer-fabrication equipment increased 197% and 77%, respectively. Goldman Sachs believes the rise in equipment imports is related to memory makers upgrading technology and expanding capacity.