South Korea's corporate profitability hit a new record high last year thanks to strong chip export, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The ratio of operating profit to revenue, which gauges corporate profitability, in all industries stood at 6.1 percent in 2017, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It was the highest since the bank began compiling the data in 2009.

The ratio among manufacturers gained to 7.6 percent last year, with the figure for non-manufacturers unchanged at 4.9 percent.

The record profitability was attributed to brisk export of locally-made semiconductors. The profitability ratio for the electric, electronic and machinery sectors more than doubled to 11.7 percent last year from 5.8 percent a year ago.

Revenue in all industries expanded 9.2 percent in 2017, the highest since 2011. It was up from the previous year's growth rate of 2.6 percent.

The revenue among manufactures advanced 9 percent last year, after falling 0.6 percent in the prior year on strong chip export and higher export price for oil products amid the expensive crude oil.

The debt-to-equity ratio in all industries declined to 114.1 percent in 2017 from 121.2 percent a year earlier.

The figure for manufacturers fell from 80.2 percent to 77.0 percent in the cited period, while the reading for non-manufacturers dipped from 165.2 percent to 151.7 percent.

The results were based on the BOK assessment of 655,524 non-financial companies.