Silicon AnalyticaChips overtook crude oil in world trade in 2025 (preliminary): $1,202.5B against $1,153.6B
2015–2025
- Calculated each value is the sum of imports from all partners reported by every importing economy to UN Comtrade (EU aggregate excluded to avoid double counting).
- Calculated Method: a year is shown once reporting economies cover at least 90% of the previous year's import value for every product, and marked preliminary until reporting is complete. 2025 coverage (share of 2024 import value from economies that have reported 2025): chips 91.7%, crude oil 97.9%, cars 97.3%, aircraft 98.1%. Chips have the lowest reporting coverage, so the chip figure is more likely to rise than fall as late reporters are added.
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- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2015 (reporting economies: chips 173, crude oil 131, cars 174, aircraft 144) · 2015 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2016 (reporting economies: chips 176, crude oil 139, cars 176, aircraft 153) · Coverage of 2015 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 100.0%, cars 99.9%, aircraft 99.9% · 2016 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2017 (reporting economies: chips 179, crude oil 138, cars 180, aircraft 147) · Coverage of 2016 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 100.0%, cars 99.8%, aircraft 99.9% · 2017 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2018 (reporting economies: chips 177, crude oil 139, cars 178, aircraft 152) · Coverage of 2017 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 99.9%, cars 99.7%, aircraft 99.7% · 2018 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2019 (reporting economies: chips 171, crude oil 138, cars 172, aircraft 151) · Coverage of 2018 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 99.9%, cars 99.9%, aircraft 99.7% · 2019 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2020 (reporting economies: chips 169, crude oil 130, cars 169, aircraft 147) · Coverage of 2019 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 100.0%, cars 99.7%, aircraft 96.2% · 2020 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2021 (reporting economies: chips 170, crude oil 126, cars 170, aircraft 149) · Coverage of 2020 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 99.1%, cars 100.0%, aircraft 99.9% · 2021 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2022 (reporting economies: chips 168, crude oil 126, cars 168, aircraft 147) · Coverage of 2021 import value: chips 99.9%, crude oil 99.9%, cars 98.7%, aircraft 100.0% · 2022 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2023 (reporting economies: chips 167, crude oil 122, cars 167, aircraft 146) · Coverage of 2022 import value: chips 100.0%, crude oil 100.0%, cars 100.0%, aircraft 99.9% · 2023 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2024 (reporting economies: chips 149, crude oil 116, cars 149, aircraft 134; preliminary) · Coverage of 2023 import value: chips 95.5%, crude oil 99.3%, cars 96.8%, aircraft 99.5% · 2024 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2025 (reporting economies: chips 129, crude oil 105, cars 129, aircraft 117; preliminary) · Coverage of 2024 import value: chips 91.7%, crude oil 97.9%, cars 97.3%, aircraft 98.1% · 2025 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
Importing economies reported $1,202.5B of integrated-circuit imports in 2025 (preliminary), equal to 104% of the $1,153.6B of crude petroleum they imported, and more than cars ($900.0B) and aircraft ($123.2B).
Chip imports were 1.9 times their 2015 level of $621.3B, and exceeded crude oil in 2020, 2021 and 2025.
2025 is preliminary: 129 economies have reported chip imports so far, against 149 for 2024, and chips have the lowest reporting coverage of the four products, so the chip total is more likely to rise than fall.
The top-10 ranking below uses 2024, the latest year with complete enough reporting to rank every product heading.
Trade values count each border crossing, so chips that move through several economies before final assembly are counted more than once; the figure is not the same as chip-industry sales.
The world's 10 most traded goods, 2024 (preliminary)
Chips are the world's #2 traded good: $1.1T in 2024 (preliminary)
- Calculated each value is the sum of imports from partner World reported by every importing economy (EU aggregate excluded). HS chapters 77 (reserved), 98 (special national codes) and 99 (commodities not specified, including confidential trade) are excluded from the ranking.
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- UN Comtrade Database, world imports 2024 by HS 4-digit heading (149 reporting economies; preliminary) · 149 importing economies reported 2024; each heading shown was reported by 116–149 of them · 2024 · retrieved 8 Nov 2026
Integrated circuits (HS 8542) ranked #2 of all 4-digit product headings in 2024 (preliminary), with $1.1T of imports, behind crude petroleum ($1.3T).
The ranking covers every HS chapter: a heading is only left unchecked when its chapter's unfetched remainder is smaller than the 10th value ($436.3B), so no other heading can be larger.