AI Hardware Share of U.S. Goods Imports

## What this measures

AI hardware imports divided by the value of all goods the United States imports in the same month.

## Why it matters

It strips out swings in overall trade, including tariff front-running, and shows how large the AI build-out has become inside U.S. trade.

## How to read it

The share was 18.0% in August 2026, against 10.9% a year earlier; the record is 19.3% in July 2026. From 2013 to 2023 its yearly average stayed between 3.2% and 4.2%; it averaged 5.5% in 2024 and 9.8% in 2025. A rising share means AI hardware is growing faster than imports as a whole.

## What it does not say

The codes are a proxy: not every server or chip goes into AI, and some AI hardware ships under other codes (finished systems, networking gear). Values are nominal U.S. dollars, not seasonally adjusted, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Census revises recent months.

## How it's built

Palanor sums the ten HS6 codes the IMF uses for AI hardware in its October 2026 World Economic Outlook: HS 8471.50 (processing units, mainly servers), 8471.70 (storage units), 8471.80 (other computer units), 8473.30 (computer parts), 8486.10, 8486.20, 8486.40 and 8486.90 (semiconductor manufacturing equipment and parts), 8542.31 (processors and controllers) and 8542.32 (memory chips). Daily runs re-read the last 14 months so revisions carry through. Palanor divides by all general imports, summed over HS2 chapters.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. International Trade in Goods, monthly HS6 detail, via the Census International Trade API. Census trade data are in the public domain. This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.