China’s chip imports see biggest drop in 2022 with accelerated decline in October amid US restrictions and weak demand
- China’s chip imports were down 13.2 per cent from January to October, accelerating from the decline in the first nine months
- China’s chip exports were also down as the country grapples with fresh US restrictions and the semiconductor industry faces a slump
For the first 10 months of the year, China imported 458 billion integrated circuits (IC), a 13.2 per cent decline from the 527.9 billion units imported in the same period last year, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Monday. It marked an accelerated decline from the first nine months, when imports were down 12.8 per cent.
The reduced volume is also a reversal over 2021, when IC imports jumped 21.3 per cent year on year in the same 10-month period.
Despite the lower volume, higher chip prices pushed up the value of chip imports for the period by 1.3 per cent to US$351.2 billion.
Chips have long been China’s biggest import, having surpassed crude oil and bulk commodities years ago. However, chip imports started to shrink at the beginning of the year, with numbers for January and February marking the first year-on-year drop since the beginning of 2020, according to official customs data.
The month-on-month decline for October was 13.7 per cent, with China importing 41.1 billion IC units. That was down from the 47.6 billion units imported in September, a slight rebound from the previous month.
The accelerated decline in volume has come amid fresh import controls from Washington in early October and coincides with a global downturn in the semiconductor industry as it moves from contending with a chip shortage to a glut.
