S Korea beats Japan to become world No.2 in chip industry

South Korea beat Japan to become the world's second largest manufacturer in the global semiconductor industry, the trade ministry said Monday.

Global market share of South Korean chipmakers reached 16.2 percent in 2013, ranking second following the 52.4 percent share of the United States, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said in a statement, citing data from IHS Technology, the chip market information provider.

The country beat Japan for the first time as global market share of Japanese chipmakers declined to 13.7 percent in 2013 from 17.5 percent in 2012. It was followed by Europe with an 8.7 percent market share and China's Taiwan with 6.5 percent.

The upbeat figure was attributed to higher market share in the memory chip sector. South Korea's memory chip share reached 52.4 percent in 2013, up from 52.1 percent a year earlier.

The market share of system chips stood merely at 5.8 percent last year, following the United States with 67.6 percent, Japan with 8.6 percent, Europe with 8.5 percent and China's Taiwan with 6.7 percent.

In the optic, discrete device sector, South Korea's market share ranked fourth with 10.4 percent, tracking Japan's 31.5 percent, the U.S.'s 28.7 percent and Europe's 18.7 percent.