South Korea's digital industry sales rose 9.3 percent to 1,378 trillion won in 2024, reaching 15.2 percent of total industrial output

South Korea's digital industry expanded 9.3 percent in 2024 from a year earlier, government data showed Wednesday. Sales totaled 1,378 trillion won, or US$917.96 billion, and represented 15.2 percent of the country's overall industrial output, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The figure exceeded half the sales recorded by the conventional manufacturing sector, which reached 2,598 trillion won in the same period.

Yonhap reported that the ministry attributed the increase to rising global investments in artificial intelligence and stronger exports of information and communications technology products, including semiconductors. Digital maturity, a measure of technology adoption and innovation across organizations, stood at 75.4 percent in 2024. That marked a 10.8 percentage point gain from 2023.

Between 2022 and 2024, 52 percent of digital companies adopted cloud computing, 43.5 percent used AI technologies, and 29.1 percent implemented big data tools, the ministry data indicated. "The government will implement relevant policy measures in line with these changes to ensure that no member of our society is left behind, as we expect such a trend to accelerate with the AI transition," the ministry said.