Fed Study: AI Products 23% of U.S. Imports in 2025, Up 73% From 2023

U.S. imports in 2025, according to a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Those imports grew 73% since 2023, while non-AI imports rose only 3% over the same period. U.S. import growth positive, even as President Trump's tariff policies aimed to curb foreign goods.

The study attributes $265 billion in AI imports for 2025, compared with $71 billion in AI-related exports. U.S. 2 trillion record high.

Stripping out AI products, non-AI imports in January 2026 stood 14% below their typical 2023 level. U.S. His administration's sweeping trade agenda has forced a crackdown on imports. 1% for non-AI goods.

Around 69% of AI-related imports fell under at least one exemption list, leaving sweeping exemptions largely in place even after the administration reorganized trade policy earlier this year. That reorganization followed a Supreme Court decision striking down the bulk of the tariffs, prompting moves to reinstate some.

U.S. Shores. U.S. economy over the past year. AI-related private investment hit $286 billion in 2025, according to Stanford University’s AI index report, matching the lifetime cost of the entire Apollo program in today’s dollars.

More than $140 billion of that sum went to infrastructure and research costs, with a large chunk earmarked for building massive data centers powering the boom. U.S. The construction frenzy has surged demand for cooling, heating, and ventilation equipment.

AI-related products include storage hardware, graphic processing units, and similar items. U.S. Taiwan and Mexico emerged as the largest trading partners for AI products in 2025, together accounting for around half of that trade.

Taiwan serves as a crucial hardware supplier, particularly for semiconductor chips, the building blocks underlying the massive computing power needed to train and run AI models. , along with electrical wiring and HVAC systems essential for data center construction. U.S. S. ” Semiconductor facilities demand massive upfront capital costs and specialized labor.

U.S. have encountered regulatory hurdles. Intel has seen a planned facility face multiple delays, while TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor manufacturer, has run into labor and compliance problems in setting up a chip factory in Arizona.

The administration’s immigration crackdown has contributed to that decline.

The global nature of the AI supply chain continues to challenge the president's goal of shrinking the trade deficit, as reliance on imports for AI persists a year after tariffs began. Fortune first convened 'The Smartest People We Know' in 2001. Fortune Brainstorm Tech will return to Aspen from June 8–10 to mark 25 years of Brainstorm.