A one-industry reliance

The claim that Korea relies too heavily on semiconductors reflects a widely recognized feature of the country's economy. Semiconductors, led by products from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, account for a dominant share of Korean exports, making national economic performance unusually sensitive to the industry's memory-chip cycle.

The Bank of Korea has examined this concentration in its own research. A 2021 BOK report is the primary reference cited in support of the claim, although the specific figures in that report could not be independently retrieved from the central bank's public issue-note archive at the time of review.

What remains unconfirmed

Because the original BOK document was not directly accessible, the precise degree of semiconductor dependence measured in the report — and the exact policy recommendations it contained — could not be confirmed here. Broader evidence of concentration is nonetheless well established: memory semiconductors supplied by Samsung Electronics and SK hynix anchor Korea's export profile, and downturns in the chip cycle have repeatedly dragged on national growth and fiscal revenue.

The pattern extends beyond exports to the wider technology ecosystem, where domestic AI and hardware industries depend on semiconductor supply chains spanning fabless designers, foundry manufacturers, and memory producers.

Conclusion

The core assertion — that Korea's economic dependence on semiconductors is too high — is broadly consistent with the central bank's own research and the country's export structure, though the specific 2021 report figures remain unverified. On balance, the claim is assessed as Mostly True.

Verdict: Mostly True