China's chip exports see record value surge driven by artificial intelligence demand
Despite a limited increase in volume, the massive leap in monetary value highlights the impact of global artificial intelligence investments on the hardware market.
China's chip exports in September increased by 1 percent in volume, while their monetary value experienced a massive 136 percent surge year-on-year, reaching 45 billion dollars.
September export data
According to data from the General Administration of Customs of China, the country exported 32.7 billion integrated circuit units in September.
Although manufacturers exported only 1 percent more products year-on-year during this period, the total monetary value rose to 45 billion dollars.
Nine-month general picture
In the first 9 months of the year, a total of 275.2 billion integrated circuit units were exported, and the monetary value of these exports increased by 108 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 302 billion dollars.
The increase in chip exports recorded during this period outpaced the country's overall export growth rate of 16.4 percent annually.
Global impact of artificial intelligence
Wang Jun, Vice Minister of the General Administration of Customs, stated that rapid developments in artificial intelligence technology have boosted global investment in computer infrastructure.
Official statements emphasized that this growth has directly increased the demand for terminal hardware and intermediate products.
Energy and hardware sector
Large-scale data centers and computer systems have also driven up the demand for electrical equipment.
This situation supported China's exports of electricity generation, transmission, and energy storage equipment.
Changes in hardware sub-items
In the first 9 months of 2026, computer parts exports showed an increase of 210 percent.
Memory components such as hard drives increased by 130 percent, and data processing hardware such as servers increased by 7.2 percent.
New generation technologies and imports
Chinese-made artificial intelligence glasses and robots began to be used in various application scenarios in international markets.
Additionally, due to domestic digital infrastructure investments, integrated circuit imports increased by 56.6 percent and memory chip imports by 150 percent in the 9-month period.