China spends more importing chips than crude oil
China's ten largest imports by value, 2025, US$ billion. Chips top the list, far ahead of oil.
- 1. China leads research in 57 of 64 critical technologies
- 2. China's international patent filings grew sixfold since 2010
- 3. Nearly half of top AI researchers studied in China
- 4. China's research spending rose from 12% to 88% of America's
- 5. China spends more importing chips than crude oil
- 6. Four tech giants spent $358 billion on infrastructure in 2025
- 7. Two in three working satellites are now Starlinks
- 8. Irish data centres now use more power than city homes
- 9. Indians now file more patents at home than Germans
- 10. India published more science papers than Germany and Britain combined
- 11. Brazilians now use Pix more often than all cards combined
- 12. Poland's digital service exports grew fivefold in a decade
China imported $425.4 billion of integrated circuits in 2025, its single largest import.
That is 44% more than its crude oil bill of $295.4 billion, the number-two import.
The chip bill rose 10% in 2025 while the oil bill fell 9%, as crude prices dropped.
the numbers & method
| Import value (bn) | Change vs 2024 (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated circuits (chips) | 425.4 | 10.0 |
| Crude oil | 295.4 | -9.0 |
| Iron ore | 122.8 | -7.8 |
| Gold (unwrought) | 102.2 | -0.6 |
| Copper ore | 81.9 | 21.4 |
| Petroleum gases (incl. LNG) | 78.3 | -11.1 |
| Computers | 65.1 | 15.2 |
| Soybeans | 50.4 | -4.6 |
| Chipmaking machinery | 50.3 | 6.9 |
| Refined copper | 40.5 | 0.6 |
Claim types Fact
Secondary sourcing: values and year-on-year changes are taken from WorldsTopExports.com, which republishes ITC Trade Map data (itself built on China Customs reports), accessed 15 Feb 2026; not read from Trade Map or China Customs directly. Spot-checks below are also secondary (press citing GACC). product categories are HS 4-digit (integrated circuits = HS 8542, crude oil = HS 2709). Spot-check: Huaon Research, citing China's General Administration of Customs, gives 2025 IC imports of $424.33bn (+10.1%). 1.44× is derived (425.4 / 295.4). The oil bill fell even though crude import volume rose 4.4% to 577.7 Mt (GACC, via SMM), so the gap is partly a price effect. 'Petroleum gases' includes LNG and pipeline gas.
Published 3 Nov 2026
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