Korea’s industrial output swung back to growth in February on a strong rise in chips and mobile gadgets, data shows.

According to Statistic Korea, production increased 0.8 percent from a month earlier, compared to a 1.5 percent contraction in January. From a year ago, the output grew 2.4 percent.

The mining and manufacturing sector led the increase, logging an output growth of 3.3 percent, the highest on-month gain since September 2009. Compared to the corresponding month in 2015, the output was up 2.4 percent.

“South Korean chipmakers increased production to provide mobile chips for newly released smartphones like the Galaxy S7 and the iPhone SE,“ said Choi Jung-su, director of the short-term industrial statistics division. ”But it‘s kind of a one-off factor, so we may see a slowdown next month.“

February’s semiconductor output gained 19.6 percent on-month, or 33.7 percent on-year.

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koreaherald@heraldcorp.com