Nearshoring
The data-center buildout is being assembled in Mexico and trucked north. At the current 12-month pace, Laredo imports as many computers every 6 weeks as it did in all of 2021 ($6.0B).
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The Bridge · Data story · Port Laredo imports
The Computer Passed the Car
Latest · August 2026
$7.18B
+133.9% vs the same month a year ago
Laredo imported $7.18B of computers and servers in August 2026, more than auto parts and passenger vehicles combined ($2.53B and $0.99B). Bold line: the 12-month average; monthly values are not seasonally adjusted.
Drag along the line; toggle the automotive lines it passed
The crossover · 12-month totals
The line doesn't bend, it launches
Computer imports sat near $6.0B a year from 2021 through 2023, then reached $13.4B in 2024 and $30.8B in 2025. Month by month, they first passed passenger vehicles in September 2024 and auto parts in December 2024, and they've stayed above both every month since May 2025.
Computers and serversAuto partsPassenger vehiclesTruck tractors
Each point is the sum of the 12 months ending there, which takes out the calendar and the seasons and shows the trend. April 2020 is left out of the month-by-month crossover dates: the auto plants were shut for COVID, and every automotive line fell for that one month.
Climbing the manifest
From fifth to first
In 2023, computers ranked fifth among Laredo's imports, behind auto parts, passenger vehicles, truck tractors and cargo trucks. In 2025 they ranked first. Press play to watch the 12-month totals re-sort.
- 1Computers and servers$53.8B41.8%
- 2Auto parts$26.4B20.5%
- 3Passenger vehicles$14.4B11.2%
- 7Truck tractors$5.5B4.3%
- 5Cargo trucks$8.7B6.8%
- 4Telecom equipment$12.8B9.9%
- 6Insulated wire and cable$7.1B5.5%
2019 to 2026
The race tracks the seven largest HS4 import lines at Laredo in recent years. The 2023 and 2025 ranks are checked against every HS4 line the port imports; earlier frames rank only these seven.
A surge with an asterisk
Three forces, one line
The direction is real. The slope is partly timing.
Front-loading
Some of the jump is importers pulling shipments forward amid tariff uncertainty. Computers in August 2026 ran +134% on the same month a year earlier; auto parts +7%.
The other side falling
Part of the gap is the auto complex shrinking. Truck-tractor imports fell from $11.6B in 2023 to $6.3B in 2025 as tariffs hit vehicles.
Why a commodity swap matters
Composition is destiny for a trade corridor. The brokers, the warehouses and the inspection lanes were built over decades around automotive freight. Now a second supply chain is layering on top of the first, with its own security exposure and its own geopolitics. In August 2026, computers alone came to $7.18B against $3.52B for auto parts and passenger vehicles together.
Read the full dispatch on The Bridge → · Related: the Laredo Corridor dashboard.
Data provenance
Imports by commodity, Port LaredoCurrent
HS4 lines: computers and servers 8471, auto parts 8708, passenger vehicles 8703, truck tractors 8701, cargo trucks 8704, telecom equipment 8517, insulated wire and cable 8544. General imports, customs value, all countries of origin and all modes, at Census port 2304 (Laredo).
Cite this dashboard
Covarrubias, D. (2026). The Computer Passed the Car at America's Busiest Land Port. Border Intelligence Desk, Daniel Covarrubias Labs. https://labs.drdanielcovarrubias.com/charts/computer-vs-car.