AI Boom Drives China’s Record $359-B Export Surge

Just as an AI-driven boom in business investment bolstered US economic growth earlier this year.

Chip exports surged 100%, while sales of automatic data-processing equipment and parts jumped 47%.

Analysts at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Nomura Holdings Inc. estimate that China’s overseas sales of semiconductors, computers, and other AI-related products accounted for roughly half of the country’s export growth in April, Bloomberg News reported.

Chinese exports climbed 14% from a year earlier to a monthly record of $359 billion, meaning companies generated roughly $500 million in export revenue every hour on average.

Chip exports surged 100%, while sales of automatic data-processing equipment and parts — including laptops, tablets, and components — jumped 47%, according to the latest customs data.

AI is also reshaping imports into China, with purchases of foreign high-tech products soaring 42%.

US President Donald Trump, who is expected to arrive in Beijing this week for a long-awaited summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, has encouraged the investment boom now boosting China’s exports and supporting other Asian economies, from South Korea to Taiwan.

This year alone, major US technology firms including Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. plan to spend as much as $725 billion on capital expenditures, primarily for AI data-center equipment.

Despite ongoing tariffs, sanctions, and technology restrictions, economic decoupling between the US and China remains incomplete. Although Trump-era tariffs have fallen from highs of 145% last year, the US share of China’s exports has dropped to a historic low near 9%, about half its 2017–2018 peak.