SEOUL, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's exports surged in double digits in the first 10 days of September, driven by an exponential growth in semiconductor shipments, customs office data showed Friday.
Outbound shipments totaled 34.97 billion U.S. dollars in the Sept. 1-10 period, up 82.6 percent from the same period last year, according to the Korea Customs Service.
It marked the highest performance for any corresponding 10-day tracking period, topping the previous high of 30 billion dollars set in July.
Daily average exports jumped 82.6 percent to 4.11 billion dollars in the 10-day period.
Semiconductor exports skyrocketed 270.1 percent to 16.48 billion dollars amid expanding global artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure investments.
Shipments for computers and peripherals spiked 93.1 percent to 635 million dollars due to strong demand for solid-state drives, fueled by the AI investments.
Exports of oil products, cars, ships and steel products logged a double-digit increase.
The Asian country's imports advanced 20.7 percent from a year earlier to 24.61 billion dollars in the first 10 days of September, sending the trade surplus to 10.36 billion dollars. ■