The AI Boom: Why It’s Replacing E-commerce in Global Freight

AI has officially taken over e-commerce as the main driver of air freight out of Asia. This massive shift is fueled by semiconductor and data center equipment demands. Learn how this boom is reshaping logistics networks and international trade, with surprising implications for economies like Taiwan.

Artificial intelligence-related goods have overtaken e-commerce as the primary engine of trans-Pacific air freight, with semiconductors and data center equipment now commanding a dominant share of cargo value on routes out of Asia — a structural shift that is reshaping network strategies at major airlines, integrators, and forwarders.

The numbers underscore the scale of the transition. A DHL study conducted in partnership with NYU Business School found that AI-related goods — semiconductors, data center equipment and related materials — accounted for 42% of trade growth by value in 2024 and 76% in the first quarter of this year. The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis calculated that without AI-related imports, total U.S. imports would have fallen 10%. The International Air Transport Association reported that roughly 53% of the value of cargo carried by its member airlines in the first half of the year came from AI-related goods.

“AI’s basically replaced e-commerce as the big driver, especially in the US, on the Trans-Pacific market, and even in Europe,” said the reporter who covers international freight, noting that the prior cycle — dominated by Chinese marketplace parcels moving business-to-consumer — “fell off a cliff” after regulators ended the de minimis tariff exemption that had allowed low-value shipments to enter duty-free.

“Taiwan is a larger trading partner than China, like mainland China, People’s Republic. And it’s all value related. It’s not volume. It’s all value. It’s because of semiconductors,” said Eric Kulisch, adding that container flows from Taiwan remain anemic while the dollar value of imports clearing U.S. customs has grown to the point that Taiwan has eclipsed mainland China in total import value to the United States.

Airlines and integrators across the board are repositioning to capture the freight. EVA Air, Korean Air, and Japan Airlines have added freighter capacity primarily aimed at AI-related customers, while FedEx and UPS are reorienting portions of their Asia-Pacific and intra-Asian networks toward the cargo type. Amazon recently struck a deal with Kuehne+Nagel, one of the world’s two largest freight forwarders, to manage the bulk of its AI logistics needs supporting AWS server farm construction.

Cargo security has emerged as a parallel concern. A truckload of semiconductors stolen in the United States, discussed on the program, illustrated the challenge of liquidating high-value chips domestically. Kulisch noted that sanctioned nations including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea provide ready black-market buyers, making export theft an attractive criminal model. A separate incident in which F-35 parts were routed through Hong Kong — reported by Bloomberg as a UPS-managed shipment — has intensified congressional scrutiny of the forwarders that handle Defense Department logistics and their use of foreign-flag carriers.

One caveat tempers the AI freight euphoria for domestic trucking and construction-related freight: data center construction, despite reaching roughly $50 billion in 2024, still represents less than 2.5% of total U.S. construction activity. Weakness in residential building, weighed down by elevated interest rates, and persistent softness in commercial office space largely offsets the data center surge, leaving overall construction freight demand closer to flat than to a broad-based boom.

• AI-related goods made up 42% of trade growth by value in 2024 and 76% in Q1 2025, per a DHL/NYU Business School study.
• IATA reported ~53% of air cargo value in the first half of the year was from AI-related goods, displacing e-commerce as the top trans-Pacific driver.
• Data center construction hit ~$50B in 2024 but remains under 2.5% of total U.S. construction, limiting the broader freight upside for domestic carriers.

This Summary is generated thanks to a transcription of the interview, for the full interview please enjoy the video above.