Korea’s total exports in January 2026 reached $65.9 billion, the highest ever for any January and up 33.9 percent year-on-year, generating a trade surplus of $8.7 billion. The numbers, drawn from reports by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIR) and the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), paint a picture of an economy firing on its technology cylinders—with displays playing a supporting but increasingly confident role.
ICT products led the charge. January ICT exports hit $29.1 billion, up a staggering 78.5 percent year-on-year, accounting for 44.1 percent of all exports and producing a $15.0 billion ICT trade surplus. Within that performance, semiconductors were the undisputed star, $20.5 billion in exports, more than doubling year-on-year, powered by memory pricing tailwinds and surging demand for HBM and DDR5 driven by AI infrastructure buildouts.
Display exports came in at $1.4 billion for January, up 26.1 percent year-on-year in the broader export data. The ICT-specific release pegged display growth at 19.0 percent—well behind semiconductors but comfortably ahead of the low-single-digit growth rates that have characterized the global LCD market in recent years. In the product pecking order, displays sit mid-pack behind semiconductors, autos ($6.1 billion), petroleum products ($3.7 billion), and wireless devices ($2.0 billion).
The numbers are solid, not spectacular. But for an industry that spent the better part of two years navigating oversupply, pricing pressure, and the commoditization of LCD, a consistent return to mid-twenties growth is meaningful.\
| Category | Export Value (USD bn) | YoY Change | Comment |
| Semiconductors | 20.5 | +102.7% | Memory pricing and HBM/DDR5-driven AI demand |
| ICT Total | 29.1 | +78.5% | Highest January ever; 44.1% of all exports |
| Displays (all exports) | 1.4 | +26.1% | From total-exports release |
| Displays (ICT classification) | — | +19.0% | From ICT-only release |
| Wireless Devices | 2.0 | +66.9% | Flagship phones, 5G devices |
| Computers & Peripherals | — | +83.7% | Data-center SSD and AI server pull-through |
What’s Driving the Display Rebound
Policy commentary from both ministries explicitly links the display rebound to OLED shipments for new mobile devices. The growth story here is not about unit volumes surging, it is about higher OLED content per handset, richer display specifications per device, and the steady migration of premium panels into categories that previously made do with commodity LCD.
The broader ICT growth narrative reinforces this. The MSIT release highlights “expanding global demand for AI infrastructure and the ongoing shift toward higher-specification ICT devices” as the primary growth engine. For the display industry, this translates into better panels for phones, tablets, PCs, and automotive applications, all pulled forward by the AI device upgrade cycle.
There is a revealing signal on the import side as well. ICT display imports grew 30.4 percent year-on-year in January, alongside double-digit growth in imports of semiconductors, phones, PCs, and communications equipment. This underscores Korea’s dual role as both a display supplier and a system integrator, importing mid- and low-end LCDs and specialty modules for products assembled domestically while exporting premium OLED panels to the world.
Industry research pegs the global display panel market at roughly $170-plus billion around 2026, with only low- to mid-single-digit growth ahead as legacy LCD matures. The profitable action is shifting toward self-emissive and specialty segments, OLED, emerging MicroLED, automotive, and industrial panels, where Korean suppliers retain meaningful technology leadership even as Chinese makers continue to dominate commodity LCD volume.
January’s numbers should be read in that context. This is not the beginning of a broad-based super-cycle for panels. It is confirmation that Korea’s display industry is successfully re-attaching itself to two secular themes that matter: first, AI-driven device and infrastructure upgrades that demand better front-of-screen performance, higher brightness, higher refresh rates, larger canvases; and second, the structural migration toward OLED and other self-emissive form factors across smartphones, IT, automotive, and wearables.
Korean vendors are prioritizing premium and differentiated form factors, foldable, transparent, high-reliability automotive, rather than fighting a commodity LCD battle they cannot win on cost. January’s export data suggests that strategy is working.
Displays are no longer the hero of Korea’s export narrative. Semiconductors have claimed that role emphatically, with a $20.5 billion January that dwarfs every other category. But the display industry does not need to be the hero. It needs to be relevant, growing, and attached to the right trends. At $1.4 billion and 26 percent growth, January’s numbers say it is all three.
For Display Daily readers, the takeaway is straightforward: Korea’s panel makers have stopped trying to swim against the commodity LCD tide and started riding the AI and premium-device wave. The January data says the ride is on.
