Official customs data released on September 8 shows that China's total goods trade reached 34.78 trillion yuan in the first eight months of this year, marking a 17.6% year-on-year increase. Exports of AI-related products and new energy goods have shown remarkable strength, serving as key drivers behind the overall export momentum. Industry experts point to the dual forces of a global AI investment boom and accelerating energy transition as catalysts reshaping the composition of foreign trade, with industrial upgrading emerging as the core pillar supporting export resilience.
Customs data released on the 8th reveals that total goods imports and exports for the January-August period hit 34.78 trillion yuan, with growth accelerating to 17.6% year-on-year, 0.3 percentage points faster than the pace recorded in the first seven months. Exports reached 20.17 trillion yuan, up 14.6% year-on-year, while imports totaled 14.61 trillion yuan, climbing 22%. In August alone, trade volume amounted to 4.65 trillion yuan, expanding 19.8% year-on-year, with exports and imports growing 18.6% and 21.7% respectively, maintaining double-digit growth for four consecutive months.
The dominant position of electromechanical products has further consolidated within the export mix. In the first eight months, electromechanical product exports totaled 12.91 trillion yuan, advancing 21.9% year-on-year and accounting for 64% of total exports, sustaining growth for 18 straight months. Lv Daliang, director of the Statistics Analysis Department at the General Administration of Customs, noted that August trade growth remained stable, with monthly trade values exceeding 4.5 trillion yuan for three consecutive months and both exports and imports recording double-digit growth for four straight months. This fully demonstrates the resilient support of China's complete industrial system and the powerful boost from technological innovation capabilities to foreign trade.
Feng Lin, executive director of the research and development department at Golden Credit Rating, attributed the rebound in August export growth to a low comparison base from the previous year, diminished impact from extreme weather, and the strengthening effect of the global AI investment wave on chip exports. Since the start of the year, the core logic behind sustained high export growth lies in the global AI investment surge propelling substantial increases in chip and related product exports, combined with ongoing domestic manufacturing upgrades supporting new energy vehicles and high-tech product exports amid a relatively buoyant external demand environment.
Zhao Wei, chief economist at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities, highlighted that despite typhoon disruptions in August, exports maintained relatively high growth, with AI-related goods serving as the primary support. Notably, price increases have significantly boosted export values, with integrated circuit export prices seeing a year-on-year gain that expanded by 36.8 percentage points compared to July. From a country perspective, the AI boom has also driven stronger export growth to both the United States and South Korea.
AI and new energy products continue their robust momentum. Data shows that in the first eight months, exports of automatic data processing equipment and components grew 43.3% year-on-year, integrated circuits surged 95.4%, and automobile exports including chassis increased 47.1%. Gao Shiwang, spokesperson for the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, stated that although global AI computing power investment has somewhat moderated, it continues growing and remains a crucial export engine. The International Monetary Fund projects that sustained AI infrastructure investment from 2026 to 2027 will translate into strong Asian AI hardware export demand, offsetting pressures from trade fragmentation and geopolitical factors. Exports of storage chips, optical communications equipment, power infrastructure, and other AI-related products are expected to maintain elevated growth.
Meanwhile, the accelerating global energy transition is driving sustained export growth for new energy products including electric vehicles, lithium batteries, photovoltaics, and wind power equipment. Emerging sectors such as industrial robots and drones are also contributing incremental growth. Operational data from industry chain companies corroborates this trend. Sunwoda Electronic Co., Ltd.'s semi-annual report shows that in the first half of 2026, the company's electric vehicle battery shipments reached 28.36 GWh, up 76.37% year-on-year, while energy storage system shipments totaled 14.7 GWh, increasing 64.98%. Notably, as the global AI computing power industry expands rapidly, Sunwoda's AIDC energy storage business saw orders surge nearly 30 times year-on-year in the first half, with the company building a product matrix spanning different voltage levels to accommodate diverse data center application needs.
The explosive growth in liquid cooling equipment is even more representative. Wang Lei, head of Shengywei International, revealed to reporters that the company's liquid cooling cabinet orders are already booked through year-end. In the first eight months of this year, Shengywei exported over one thousand liquid cooling series products, compared to just six sample units during the same period last year when the products were still in prototype testing. "Over the next three years, our focus isn't on selling more cabinets, but on developing liquid cooling, power distribution, and prefabricated data centers into a replicable delivery capability."
Industry analysis suggests that behind the trade growth figures lies the continued unfolding of industrial upgrading logic. The simultaneous boom in AI and new energy is reflected not only in export value growth but also in synchronized benefits across multiple industry chain segments, from battery cells and liquid cooling systems to intelligent equipment. Looking ahead, Zhao Wei believes that September exports are likely to maintain strong resilience, with AI and consumer sectors continuing to provide major support.
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