Profits of China's semiconductors industry surge 18.5-fold in first 7 months of 2026: NBS

Profits made by China’s integrated circuit or semiconductors industry, spanning computing and memory chips, skyrocketed 18.5 times year-on-year in the first seven months of 2026, propelled by explosive demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure and sustained construction of the computing capacity, official data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Thursday.

In the first seven months, the broader electronics sector as a whole saw profits more than double, rising 110 percent year‑on‑year and contributing 9.3 percentage points to total industrial profit growth. That made electronics the single largest driver of industrial profit growth, said Yu Weining, chief NBS statistician.

“With the accelerated roll-out of ‘AI+’ initiatives and continuous expansion in computing power demand, semiconductor prices have been pushed higher, driving a sharp profit surge in the electronics industry tied to AI production and applications,” Yu said.

Beyond chipmaking, computers and servers manufacturing profits soared 330 percent, related equipment makers’ profits rose 250 percent, and profits of industrial control computer systems gained 160 percent year-on-year, the data showed.

China's high-tech manufacturing sector recorded a 50.1 percent year-on-year profit growth in the first seven months, contributing 9.6 percentage points to overall industrial profit growth, as manufacturers pressed ahead toward high-end value chains, NBS data showed.