👩🍳 How we use AI at Tech in Asia, thoughtfully and responsibly.
🧔♂️ A friendly human may check it before it goes live. More news here
🧔♂️ A friendly human may check it before it goes live. More news here
China earns $500m per hour from AI-driven exports
China’s exports rose 14% year on year to a record US$359 billion in April, meaning companies were bringing in roughly US$500 million an hour on average, according to customs data and estimates by Goldman Sachs and Nomura.
AI-related goods such as chips and computers accounted for about half of the increase.
Chip exports doubled, and sales of data processing equipment rose 47%, while imports climbed 25% to US$275 billion, and foreign purchases of high-tech products rose 42%.
The figures show China remains deeply tied to the global AI supply chain even as US-China relations stay strained.
The US share of China’s exports remains near a record low of about 9%.
🔗 Source: Bloomberg
🧠 Food for thought
Implications, context, and why it matters.
Chip export growth may lean on older semiconductors
- Doubling chip exports may hide an important detail. Much of the increase may come from older-generation, or “legacy,” semiconductors rather than the advanced AI chips covered by U.S. export controls 1.
- After U.S. restrictions took effect, Chinese chipmakers poured more money into mature-node chips used in cars, refrigerators, and industrial equipment 2.
- That approach could help China take a larger share of a high-volume chip market outside the toughest limits on advanced semiconductors 3.
- The added output has raised worries in the U.S. and Europe over a supply glut and lower prices that could squeeze Western chipmakers 1.
U.S. restrictions may also strengthen Chinese competition
- Rising exports feed a wider argument that U.S. sanctions may speed up China’s move toward technology independence 4.
- After facing curbs, Huawei, the Chinese telecoms and electronics company, says it redesigned thousands of circuit boards to rely less on U.S. parts. HarmonyOS, its operating system, now has nearly 1 billion users 5.
- American companies have paid a price. One estimate puts lost sales to Huawei at more than US$33 billion from 2021 through 2024 5.
- If China comes to dominate legacy chips, it could gain leverage over industries that Western governments want to protect 2.
