U.S. AI Hardware Imports from China

## What this measures

The value of AI-related hardware the United States imports from China each month.

## Why it matters

Imports from China show how far tariffs and export controls have pushed computer and chip supply elsewhere.

## How to read it

Imports from China were $1.2 billion in August 2026. For whole years they fell from $28.1 billion in 2018 to $9.5 billion in 2019 and were $8.3 billion in 2025; the record month is July 2018 at $3.0 billion. Compare with total AI hardware imports (trade.ai_hardware.us_imports) for China's share, and with the same month a year earlier.

## 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. Country of origin is where goods were last substantially transformed, not where their chips were made.

## 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.

## 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.