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中国人工智能热潮推动长三角贸易在前五个月创下历史新高 2026-06-28
China’s most economically dynamic region, the Yangtze River Delta region which comprises Shanghai as well as Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, recorded a historic high in import and export value in the first five months thanks to strong growth in trade linked to the artificial intelligence industrial chain.
Total trade in the four provincial-level regions soared 16 percent in the five months ended May 31 from the same period last year to CNY7.8 trillion (USD1.1 trillion), with exports reaching CNY4.9 trillion and imports CNY2.9 trillion, according to data recently released by the General Administration of Customs of China. The region’s trade has expanded for 15 consecutive months and now accounts for 38 percent of the country’s total foreign trade.
The rapid growth of foreign trade in the Yangtze River Delta region has been driven by the global green transformation and the expansion of the AI industry, which has boosted concentrated deliveries of high-end manufacturing products such as new energy vehicles, solar products and computing chips, Zhan Yubo, deputy director of the Institute of Economics at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told Yicai.
As the region’s economic center, Shanghai logged an 18 percent jump in trade in the first five months from the year before to CNY2.1 trillion (USD308.7 billion). In May alone, the city’s imports and exports surged 11.5 percent to CNY420.5 billion (USD61.8 billion), marking 16 consecutive months of growth. Exports soared 27 percent while imports edged up 0.6 percent, according to local customs data.
In May, Shanghai saw trade of its AI-related products, including integrated circuits, memory components and parts for automatic data processing equipment, surge 88 percent from a year ago, contributing 10.5 percentage points to the municipality’s foreign trade growth. Within this category, integrated circuits increased by 26 percent, memory components nearly tripled and data processing equipment parts soared 10-fold.
In eastern Jiangsu province, exports of automatic data processing equipment and its components skyrocketed 62 percent from January to May. The city of Wuxi, which is home to semiconductor leaders such as SK Hynix Semiconductor China and JCET Group, posted a 51 percent jump in integrated circuit exports in the first four months while exports of computer-related components quintupled.
As the expansion of global computing power centers and the upgrading of intelligent terminals creates long-term rigid demand, the Yangtze River Delta’s complete AI industrial chain gives it both cost and delivery advantages, allowing it to convert AI-driven growth into export gains and become one of the main beneficiaries of the AI boom, Zhan said.
The Yangtze River Delta region is also leveraging the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Belt and Road Initiative to expand trade with emerging markets such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Middle East, helping offset weaker demand from Europe and the United States, he added.
Shanghai’s trade with ASEAN soared 26 percent in May from a year earlier to CNY70.1 billion (USD10.3 billion), surpassing its trade of CNY69.6 billion with the European Union, and making ASEAN Shanghai’s largest trading partner for the first time.
Source: Yicai Global
