Exports of automatic data processing machines and parts jumped more than 41 per cent to top US$138 billion
China’s chip exports nearly doubled in the first half of the year, customs data shows, as a global AI boom cemented computing hardware’s place as a key economic growth engine.
In the first six months of 2026, China exported 179.44 billion integrated circuits (ICs) worth a total of US$177.28 billion – up more than 96 per cent year on year – according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Tuesday.
The surge in IC exports was one of the key drivers behind China’s double-digit export growth in the first half of the year, alongside robust overseas demand for industrial robots and other hi-tech products, underscoring the country’s shift towards technology-led export growth despite an increasingly challenging global trade environment.
“The export growth was fundamentally driven by precisely matching ‘Made in China’ [products] with diverse global demand,” Wang Jun, a vice-minister of customs, said at a news briefing on Tuesday.
Beijing has been promoting the adoption of domestically designed chips as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s self-reliance in semiconductors, even as it recently approved the sale of Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units – a coveted option for training artificial intelligence models – to a handful of Chinese tech companies.
AI technology and its applications have become one of the country’s biggest growth drivers in trade, with exports of automatic data processing machines and parts – including computers, servers, memory and other computing components – jumping 41.3 per cent to US$138.08 billion in the first half of the year.