AI fuels global trade growth as China-US flows shift, McKinsey finds

SCMP Tech / 4/9/2026

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Key Points

McKinsey reports that AI-driven investment—especially data-centre expansion—has helped push global trade growth ahead of broader economic growth.
The consultancy highlights a shift in cross-border trade flows, particularly involving China–US movement patterns.
AI infrastructure buildouts are positioned as a key underlying driver of trade activity by increasing demand for equipment, services, and related supply-chain inputs.
The findings suggest that AI-related capital spending is having spillover effects beyond technology sectors into global logistics and trade balances.

Artificial intelligence has emerged as the driving force behind global trade growth, fuelled by a surge in data-centre buildouts at a time when geopolitical tensions are redrawing trade flows, according to McKinsey & Company. Global trade grew 6.5 per cent last year, outpacing the world economy, with AI-linked goods accounting for about one-third of that increase, McKinsey’s research showed. The category – including semiconductors, graphics cards, routers and servers – has been propelled by the...

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