South Korea’s semiconductor trade surplus in the first seven months this year reached $28.9 billion, rising sharply from $12.6 billion in the same period in 2016, marking over a twofold on-year increase. This year’s figure so far already surpasses the combined surplus of $25.6 billion for 2016.

It also shows that memory chips take up nearly half of the country‘s trade profits, casting concerns over the economy’s excessive dependency to the industry that is vulnerable to global market fluctuations. Industry watchers said maintaining sufficient investment is crucial to hold on to the lead against rivals as the recent performance is largely driven by their previous investments.