China’s chip exports surge 73% as AI demand fuels semiconductor growth
Chip exports hit US$43.3 billion in January and February, outpacing China’s overall export growth of 21.8 per cent in the same period
China’s chip exports jumped in the first two months of the year, according to the latest customs data, underscoring how Beijing’s push for semiconductor self-sufficiency is boosting both domestic demand and global market growth.
Integrated circuit (IC) exports reached US$43.3 billion in January and February, an increase of 72.6 per cent from a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. It far outpaced China’s overall export growth of 21.8 per cent in the same period.
By volume, IC exports rose 13.7 per cent from a year earlier to 52.5 billion units.
The data comes as Beijing intensifies its “whole-nation” approach to step up chip self-reliance and mitigate the risks stemming from Western trade restrictions. The whole-nation approach is a comprehensive government strategy to address national-level challenges.
Meanwhile, the volume of chip imports rose 9 per cent to 9.1 billion units and their value jumped 39.8 per cent to US$78.2 billion in the first two months of the year, compared with increases of 6.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent, respectively, in the same period in 2025.
The data comes as imports of Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units – an ideal option for Chinese big tech companies to train their AI models – remain in limbo.
US officials were considering limiting the purchases of each Chinese firm to 75,000 H200 chips, further constraining the chipmaker’s re-entry into an important market, Bloomberg reported last week, citing people familiar with the matter.