China’s export earnings have reached roughly $500m an hour, according to a Bloomberg calculation based on the latest customs data, with AI-related goods accounting for about half of the year-on-year growth that has driven the figure to record levels. Total Chinese exports rose 14.1% year-on-year in April to a record $359.4bn, comfortably ahead of consensus forecasts in the high single digits, according to Chinese customs data published last week. The trade surplus widened to $84.8bn for the month. Imports rose 25.3% year-on-year, slightly below March’s 27.8% but well ahead of expectations. Goldman Sachs and Nomura attribute about half of April’s export-growth contribution to AI-related goods: semiconductors, computers, data-centre components, and the industrial materials feeding into Chinese AI infrastructure that is, in turn, supplied into global markets. Integrated-circuit exports alone reached $31.1bn for the month, mobile-phone exports $84.1bn, and high-tech products $104.0bn in total.…