Despite the high-tariff policies implemented since the Trump administration took office, South Korean conglomerates have seen their North American market sales increase by over 14%. Companies in the IT, electronics, and pharmaceutical sectors have driven this growth, while the secondary battery and construction materials sectors have experienced declines.
On Tuesday, corporate analysis firm Leaders Index released a report on the top 500 companies. The study, which examined 67 firms and their 194 subsidiaries that separately reported North American sales for the third quarter of 2025, found that their combined North American sales totaled about $256.85 billion. This marks a 14.1% increase, or $31.93 billion, from $225.92 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
During the same period, the total sales of the surveyed companies rose from approximately $771.11 billion to $832.84 billion, an 8.0% increase. This growth rate was 1.3 percentage points lower than that of North American sales. The share of North American sales in total revenue increased from 26.4% in Q3 2023 to 29.3% in Q3 2024, and further expanded by 1.7 percentage points to 31.0% in the previous year’s third quarter.
By sector, the IT and electronics industries recorded the largest sales increases. North American sales in this sector grew from $98.13 billion to $118.46 billion, a 20.7% ($20.33 billion) increase, outperforming the overall sales growth rate of 14.1% by 6.6 percentage points.
SK Hynix reported North American sales of $20.48 billion, accounting for 58.8% of its total sales in Q3 2024. By Q3 2025, these sales surged to $33.89 billion, reflecting a year-on-year increase of $13.41 billion and a 65.5% year-on-year growth rate. The share of North American sales in SK Hynix’s total revenue surpassed 70%.
Samsung Electronics recorded North American sales of $70.01 billion in Q3 2025, marking a 10.2% increase from $63.51 billion in the same period last year. The share of North American sales rose from 37.6% to 38.9%, an increase of 1.3 percentage points.
LG Electronics saw its North American sales decline slightly from $12.73 billion in Q3 2024 to $12.69 billion in Q3 2025, representing a 0.3% decrease.
The pharmaceutical and biotech sectors experienced the highest growth rate in North American sales. Samsung Biologics and Celltrion’s North American sales totaled $649.5 million in Q3 2024, accounting for 15.0% of total sales. By Q3 of last year, these sales had surged 120.9% to $1.43 billion. The share of North American sales in the total revenue for the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors more than doubled to 27.0%.
As demand for electricity surged due to the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technology development, Hyosung Heavy Industries and LS Electric also saw significant increases in their North American sales. Hyosung Heavy Industries reported a rise from $329.78 million to $504.15 million, a 52.9% increase. LS Electric’s sales jumped from $576.53 million to $1.07 billion, an 84.8% increase.
Hyundai Motor Group’s automotive subsidiaries, Hyundai Motor and Kia, both reported increases in their North American sales. Hyundai’s North American sales rose from $43.04 billion to $46.63 billion. Kia’s sales also grew from $26.67 billion to $28.62 billion. Hyundai Transys increased by 38.4%, while Hyundai Mobis saw a 26.7% rise. The three major tire companies, Hankook Tire & Technology, Kumho Tire, and Nexen Tire, reported increases of 100.7%, 19.7%, and 2.0%, respectively.
Conversely, the secondary battery sector continued to see declines in North American sales for the second consecutive year. North American sales dropped from $3.96 billion in Q3 2024 to $2.63 billion in Q3 2025, a 33.6% decrease. Within this sector, Samsung SDI’s North American sales fell sharply from $3.12 billion to $1.84 billion, a decline of over 40%, reducing its share of North American sales from 32.4% to 26.1%. Similarly, Posco Future M, a secondary battery materials company, reported a 27.6% drop from $810.38 million to $586.73 million.
Additionally, sectors such as construction and construction materials, transportation, shipbuilding, machinery, and equipment also saw declines in North American sales. Among these, the construction and construction materials sector experienced the largest drop, falling to $1.88 billion, a 35.5% decrease. Transportation sales dropped by $197.4 million, a 7.8% decline, while the shipbuilding, machinery, and equipment sector saw a $148.43 million reduction, a 3.7% decrease.