Exports of Chinese microchips rise by 103.9% over 8 months
The upturn is driven by growing global demand for AI infrastructure and technological advancements within the sector itself
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Photo source: Jae Young Ju / iStock
Exports of integrated circuits from China for the period from January to August 2026 reached US$256.75 billion. This is 103.9 per cent more than in the same period last year. In August alone, exports totalled US$40.731 billion. These figures were provided by China’s General Administration of Customs, according to Global Times, a partner of TV BRICS.
The acceleration in export growth is linked to the global boom in artificial intelligence (AI), which has led to a shortage of memory chips. However, the main reason is the rapid development of China’s own integrated circuit (IC) industry. Xiang Ligang, an expert in the telecommunications and technology sector, told Global Times.
"China's accelerating IC export growth is driven both by the global AI boom, which has tightened memory chip supply, and, more importantly, by the rapid development of China's own IC industry," the expert noted.
According to him, the Chinese IC industry has two key advantages. The first is its strong potential in the field of infrastructure development: the ongoing expansion of domestic factories in recent years has made the IC supply chain more comprehensive, laying a solid foundation for the sector’s growth. The second advantage is technological progress: more advanced manufacturing processes have reduced production costs and enhanced China’s international competitiveness. The expert forecasts that by the end of 2026, the total value of Chinese IC exports will reach 2 trillion yuan (approximately US$298 billion).
The growth in IC exports took place against a backdrop of steady expansion in China’s foreign trade. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, in the first eight months of 2026, the volume of foreign trade in goods grew by 17.6 per cent year-on-year – to 34.78 trillion yuan (approximately US$5.182 trillion). Exports rose by 14.6 per cent, whilst imports increased by 22 per cent.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, in the first half of 2026, China produced more than 1.5 billion microchips per day. The volume of integrated circuit production during this period rose by 23.1 per cent year-on-year to 279.8 billion units. A spokesperson for the bureau, Wang Guanhua, described this figure as enormous and clear evidence of the momentum driving the country’s semiconductor industry.
China has also issued revised regulations on the protection of integrated circuit topologies. The document will come into force on 15 October this year. It aims to strengthen the protection and application of topologies, as well as to improve registration and management systems.
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