The prices of computer memory chips surged 39 percent on-month in January, industry data showed Tuesday, boding well for South Korea's leading chipmakers -- Samsung Electronics Co. and SK hynix Inc.

The spot price of the benchmark 4-gigabit DDR3 came to US$2.69 as of Wednesday, compared to an average spot price of $1.94 a month earlier, according to the data by market tracker DRAMeXchange.

It marks the biggest on-month jump since the data was compiled in July 2012, DRAMeXchange said.

The spot price of the 4Gb DDR3, a flagship DRAM product, began to increase after hitting a low of $1.25 on May 31, 2016.

DRAMeXchange said that the global market for server DRAM modules benefits from the ongoing price rally of DRAM products for PCs.

Market watchers said the increase in the global price of DRAM chips will help local tech firms as memory chips are among South Korea's main export items. Samsung accounts for half of the global DRAM market, while SK hynix holds about 25 percent of the market. 

Last week, SK hynix announced that its operating profit for the October-December period of 2016 jumped 55.3 percent on-year to 1.53 trillion won ($1.31 billion) thanks to a steady recovery in DRAM prices.

Samsung also said its semiconductor business posted an operating profit of 4.95 trillion won for the fourth quarter of last year on sales of 14.86 trillion won. (Yonhap)