South Korean media: All Chinese industries are on the rise, and South Korean companies are in trouble!

On June 10, the South Korean media "The Herald Economy" published an article stating that as Chinese enterprises gradually shed their old image of being the "world's factory" and transformed into globally competitive manufacturing powerhouses centered around technology, with strong support from the government and abundant human resources, Chinese enterprises are rapidly posing a threat to South Korean companies.

In the steel and petrochemical industries, the progress of Chinese enterprises has already reduced the status of South Korean enterprises. Recently, Chinese enterprises have launched a fierce offensive in cutting-edge industries such as TVs, batteries, semiconductors, AI, and robotics, further exacerbating the difficulties for South Korean enterprises.

According to statistics from market research company Omdia, Samsung Electronics, which has ranked first in the global TV market for 19 consecutive years until last year, remained at the top in the first quarter of this year. Additionally, LG Electronics, the home appliance giant, continues to lead in the high-end OLED TV segment.

However, the problem lies in the fact that Chinese enterprises are rapidly narrowing the share gap. In terms of sales share, China's TCL had a market share of 13.3% during the same period, up by 1.7 percentage points year-on-year. Considering that LG Electronics' market share dropped from 16.7% to 15%, TCL has filled the market share lost by LG Electronics.

From the perspective of shipments, the share gap is further narrowing. In the first quarter of this year, Samsung Electronics ranked first with a shipment share of 19.2%, while China's TCL and Hisense reached 13.7% and 11.9%, respectively. LG Electronics ranked fourth with a 10.7% share.

Of course, LG Electronics leads in the lucrative high-end OLED TV market, while Chinese enterprises focus on LCD TVs. However, considering China's current technological development and market追赶speed, Chinese enterprises are likely to dominate the OLED market.

South Korean companies also face challenges in the battery industry. According to data released by energy market research firm SNE Research, in the first quarter of this year, China's CATL ranked first in global battery market share with a share of 37.9%. The second place was held by China's BYD with a share of 17.2%, and the combined share of the two companies exceeded 55%.

By contrast, LG Energy Solution ranked third with a share of 10.8%, showing an increasing gap compared to the two Chinese companies. SK On and Samsung SDI's shares were single-digit, at 4.4% and 3.2%, respectively.

The influence of Chinese enterprises is not only growing in the battery sector but also in the charging battery material field. According to SNE Research statistics, last year, the demand for lithium-ion battery anode materials was 1.97 million tons, with shipments reaching 2.11 million tons. Compared to the previous year (2023), both demand and shipments increased by 26% and 25%, respectively.

The issue is that all the top ten companies in terms of shipments are Chinese companies. These ten companies accounted for 84% of the market share. POSCO Future M, the only South Korean company producing anode materials, is struggling under the impact of Chinese enterprises. Last year, POSCO Future M ranked 11th in market share.

Recently, even South Korea's semiconductor industry is under threat. This is because China is making large-scale investments to achieve semiconductor independence. As a result, the technical capabilities and production capacity of China's semiconductor enterprises are rapidly improving.

In fact, Xiaomi, one of China's leading IT companies, recently successfully developed its own smartphone AP using a 3nm process, becoming the fourth company after Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek to independently design and develop a 3nm process mobile AP chip globally.

Additionally, Changxin Memory, a leading Chinese memory enterprise, rose to fifth place globally last year with a market share of 5%, consolidating its position as the fourth-largest player after Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron. With the successful mass production of advanced products like DDR5 earlier this year, its market share is expected to increase further by the end of this year.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), China's largest foundry company, also reported growth and accelerated its layout in the global foundry market. Its sales in the first quarter reached $2.2472 billion, a 28.4% increase compared to $1.75018 billion in the same period last year. In the fourth quarter of last year, its global market share reached 5.5%, narrowing the gap with second-ranked Samsung Electronics (8.1%) to 2.6 percentage points, posing a threat.

Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834508764030215/

Disclaimer: The article solely represents the author's personal views.