Korea ranks 3rd on global dominant product list to tie Japan

TOKYO -- South Korea has ranked third among countries having the world’s most dominant products. In six categories, including smartphones, memory chips and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, it topped the global market to tie Japan, a major newspaper in that country reported on Monday.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was top in shipbuilding and Samsung Electronics Co. had the world’s largest market share in five categories, namely the smartphone, DRAM, NAND flash memory, OLED and ultra slim TV sectors last year, according to a survey on the top global market share of 63 key products conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

Samsung and its smaller South Korean rival SK Hynix Inc. together accounted for 70.5% of the global DRAM market and 52.5% of the world’s NAND flash memory sector. Samsung made up 60% of the global OLED industry, while its local competitor LG Display Co. accounted for 20.2%.

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. took the throne from China State Shipbuilding Corp. with an 18.3% share in the global market in 2022. That helped South Korea raise its ranking on the list from No. 4.

Japan ranked No. 3 on the list with six products such as automobiles, motorcycles and portable lithium-ion batteries dominating the global markets.

The US topped the list with 22 items controlling the world’s industries, followed by China with 16 products.

Write to Yeong-Hyo Jeong at hugh@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.