Imports in the broad computer category, which includes desktops, laptops and tablets as well as the servers so necessary for the AI data centers being built around the country, have increased 91.72% through the first six months of 2026 when compared to the same time period in 2025.
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The United States is on pace to top the $6 trillion milestone in merchandise trade in 2026, a remarkable feat largely driven on the import side by the computer hardware needs for AI data centers.
I wrote about the U.S. exports that have grown the most and the most rapidly since the nation topped $5 trillion in 2022 yesterday. Both stories are based on the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, released Thursday, covering the first half of the year.
In that column, I explained why gold posted the largest dollar increase and silver the fastest percentage growth, along with the other export categories that contributed most to U.S. export growth.
Through the first six months of 2026, U.S. trade totaled $2.98 trillion. For U.S. trade to reach $6 trillion, the second half would need to account for 50.28% of the annual total, or about $3.02 trillion.
Since 2018, when the nation first surpassed $4 trillion, the second half has accounted for at least 50.28% of annual U.S. trade in every year but one.
That one year was last year, and it requires an asterisk. 2025 was the year President Trump announced his Liberation Day tariffs against the world. Announced on April 2, those tariffs were preceded by – and then intensified – substantial front-loading of shipments intended to avoid higher duties.
It was slightly more than three decades ago when U.S. trade first surpassed $1 trillion, in 1993.
It surpassed $2 trillion for the first time 11 years later in 2004.
The $3 trillion barrier fell just three years later in 2007.
It took another 11 years to top $4 trillion, which happened for the first time in 2018. Then, the nation topped $5 trillion in just four years, in 2022.
If the nation tops $6 trillion this year, the import that will be an almost solitary standout will be the broad computer category. It includes not only laptops, desktops and tablets, but the servers that grew so rapidly in 2025 that it was the most valuable U.S. import category for the first time, ahead of perennial top imports, oil and passenger vehicles.
That growth was so impressive that Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where a great deal of computer hardware from Taiwan entered, was the nation’s top port – the first time a U.S. airport finished the year on top.
This year, those computer imports are growing even more rapidly.
Computer part imports grew rapidly — and by a greater percentage than any other top 50 import — in the first half of 2026 when compared to the same time period in 2022, when the United States first topped $5 trillion in U.S. trade.
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Looking at the gain from the first six months of 2022, computer imports increased $136.71 billion, more than twice the increase of the import with the second most growth, computer parts, which increased $53.44 billion to $71.38 billion.
Those two also recorded the fastest growth among the top 50 imports, with computer parts at 297.85% and computers at 236.79%.
U.S. import growth in this four-year period was a relatively anemic 7.76%.
Computer parts are relatively light and particularly valuable — so they fly far more than the national average for all imports. Some 91.25% of all imports flew in the first six months of 2026 compared to the national average of 33.97% for all imports.
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Both imports of computers and computer parts are closely tied to companies like Google parent Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle and others that are leading a massive build-out of data centers that are gobbling up computers, computer servers, other hardware and parts.
After computers and computer parts, the import that has grown the most as the United States raced past $5 trillion to $6 trillion was cell phones and related equipment. The increase in the cell phone category was 50.04%, puny next to computers and computer parts but still almost seven times the national average. The category went from the No. 5 import at this time last year to No. 2 this year with its $29.17 billion increase to $87.46 billion, trailing only computers.
Imports of digital-storage devices have explored this year, with all six months of the year setting records.
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Switching to the fastest-growing imports, the only other import topping 200% – and the only other import with growth above $10 billion – was digital-storage devices. The growth rate of 200.46% was equal to growth of $18.53 billion, to a total of $27.77 billion. Digital-storage devices cracked the list of the top 10 most valuable imports, up 18 positions from No. 28. This category almost certainly ties in with AI investment also.
The remaining imports by most growth are:
Returned exports without change registered a value increase of $9.77 billion, the fifth-greatest growth among the top 10. Its percentage increase did not rank among the top 10, at 21.44%. This category can include almost anything that is being returned for one reason or another.
Low-value shipments grew $8.05 billion to $18.26 billion from the first six months of 2022, a 78.86% change. This is a category dominated by e-commerce.
The category of vaccines, plasma and other blood fractions grew $7.53 billion to $38.35 billion, an increase of 24.44%. This growth rate was also not enough to rank among the top 10.
Power supplies – also probably at least part of AI investment – grew $7.25 billion to $17.76 billion, an increase of 69.07%.
Copper imports – also probably part of AI investment since it would be critical to the build-out of the data centers – grew $7.11 billion to $11.37 billion, an increase of 167.11%. That is the third-highest percentage gain among the 10 imports that grew the most, trailing only computer parts, computers and digital storage devices.
The aircraft engines and parts category was the import that ranked 10th by the value increase, growing $6.99 billion to $18.22 billion, an increase of 62.24%.
Looking now at the fastest-growing top imports – and here I limited the list to the top 50 imports, which comprise just under two-thirds of all imports, to avoid distortion from low-value outliers – there are three I have not mentioned:
Satellites and related equipment increased 67.70%, increasing $3.73 billion to $9.24 billion. Ranked No. 51 in the first six months of 2025, the category advanced 24 positions to rank No. 24. Even this category can be tangentially tied to AI investment.
Machinery for heating and sterilizing increased 64.04%, from $2.67 billion to $5.81 billion since the first six months of 2022.
Gold, the big player on the export side, also experienced rapid growth on the import side, jumping 63.49%, or eight times faster than the rate of all U.S. imports, an increase of $2.27 billion to $5.81 billion.
The products driving U.S. import growth tell a clear story. Computers, computer parts, digital-storage devices, power supplies and copper are not simply rising because consumers are buying more electronics. They reflect a historic investment cycle as the world’s largest technology companies race to build the data centers and computing capacity required for artificial intelligence.
That investment may help push total U.S. merchandise trade beyond $6 trillion for the first time in 2026. But it also illustrates the complexity of the nation’s trade challenge. The United States is seeking to reduce its trade deficit even as its most ambitious companies depend on enormous volumes of imported hardware to compete in the global AI race.
The $6 trillion milestone, if reached, will be evidence of the scale and resilience of U.S. trade. It will also be a reminder that, in the age of artificial intelligence, imports are not just a measure of foreign dependence. They are increasingly part of the infrastructure on which America’s technological future is being built.
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