Business
March 13, 2026
The US spent years trying to restrict China’s access to advanced semiconductors. Early 2026 trade data suggest that the strategy has not slowed China’s chip industry the way many expected. In the first two months of the year, China’s chip exports surged sharply. Integrated circuit shipments reached $43.3 billion in January and February. This marks a 72.6% increase from a year earlier, according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs.
The surge helped push the China trade surplus to $213.6 billion. This was up about 26% year-on-year. Overall exports grew 21.8%, while imports climbed 19.8%. The scale of this jump stands out. Semiconductor shipments expanded far faster than the country’s overall trade growth. This shows how quickly chips are becoming central to China’s exports in 2026.
In addition, trade flows were also seen shifting. Chinese exports to ASEAN rose 29.4%. Amidst this, shipments to Europe surged by 27.8%. This shows where much of the semiconductor demand is now coming from.
At the same time, China is still importing large volumes of semiconductors. Chip imports reached $78.2 billion in the same January-February period. This marked a 40% increase from last year. The latest surge was because of companies stocking up on components needed for AI infrastructure and electronics manufacturing.
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Semiconductors Lead China’s Export Surge as AI Demand Drives Decade-High Growth
The acceleration in China’s semiconductor exports is closely tied to the global boom in AI. Several firms across the world are racing to build data centers and train models. This is driving demand for processors, memory, and supporting chips. The surge in AI chip demand is, in turn, lifting semiconductor trade across the industry.
Chinese manufacturers are expanding production to keep up. Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) produced 9.7 million wafers in 2025. This is a 21% increase from the previous year, as the country ramps up domestic chip capacity.
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Analysts expect the overall Chinese semiconductor market to grow rapidly as well. Research firm Omdia projects the sector could reach $546.5 billion in 2026. This reflects rising domestic consumption and expanding exports. Supply constraints are also pushing prices higher. According to Counterpoint Research, global memory chip prices could rise 40-50% iin the first quarter of 2026. This is in line with increases expected later in the year as demand for AI hardware rises. Analysts from Donghai Securities said,
“The semiconductor industry continued its recovery in February. Memory prices kept rising in February, with the price increases spreading from memory and consumer electronics to other semiconductor sectors such as power and analogue chips.”
Restrictions on Nvidia’s most advanced chips are still in place. This includes the H200 processors users to train large AI models. US officials have reportedly considered limiting Chinese companies to around 75,000 of the chips each year. As China’s exports continute to grow in 2026, semiconductors are shaping the country’s trade balance and positon in the global AI race.
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