South Korea is a semiconductor factory built on top of a geopolitical fault line

The odds of an all-out war between North and South Korea are very low, but they aren’t zero. 

The Seoul metropolitan region — within range of Kim’s artillery — is home to about 26 million people, roughly half of South Korea’s population.

The capital and surrounding areas account for 81% of South Korea’s chip production and 34% of its total manufacturing output.

Like Taiwan, South Korea’s role as a major chip producer means its importance to the global economy goes beyond the size of its GDP.

Samsung Electronics — among the world’s top 30 firms by market capitalization — produces 41% of the world’s DRAM chips and 33% of NAND memory chips. Its products are crucial inputs for companies from Apple Inc. to the Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp.

Bloomberg 28 July 2024

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-korea-war-threatens-trillions-for-global-economy/