The US technology sector imports of computers, high-tech components and consumer electronics in 2006 exceeded their exports, resulting in a record $102 billion trade deficit in the sector, says AeA, the industry''s largest trade group,

The AeA used international trade data for 2006 compiled by the US Census Bureau for its report, Trade in the Cyberstates 2007.

Total tech imports reached $322 billion in 2006, up 9 per cent from the previous year and the US imported more high-tech goods from China than any other nation. However, the imports statistics can be misleading as several US firms like semiconductor giant Intel Corp, among others, design and test their chips in the US, but produce them in their overseas plants to take advantage of cost differences, especially in labour, before re importing them in to the US.

The US government''s trade data does not indicate the exact quantum of such "intra-company transfers" says AeA, which includes Hewlett-Packard Co., Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc. among its 2,500 members.

US high-tech exports have increased over the past four years, although they''re still running below the dot-com bubble record of $223 billion set in 2000, according to the AeA.

High-tech exports, mostly semiconductors, computers and related equipment and industrial electronics, totalled $220 billion last year, about 10 per cent higher than in 2005 — that accounted for about 21 per cent of all US exports last year.

The report reveals that at outbound shipments worth $512.81 billion, California topped a 50-state ranking, accounting for 24 per cent of all US tech exports, followed by Texas with $38.6 billion, Florida, Massachusetts and New York.

According Matthew Kazmierczak, AeA''s vice president of research and industry analysis, said, Florida had become a hub for Latin American exports. He added that high-tech exports were vital to the economies of several other states such as Vermont, New Mexico and Idaho, whose technology exports accounted for 70 per cent or more of all exports in those three states.

Kazmierczak warned that of the US technology sector''s total estimated employment of 5.2 million, about 684,000 jobs were tied to exports, some of which could be at risk if the technology trade deficit, which has doubled since 2000, continues to widen as expected.

He said that the federal government needed to do a better job of protecting US intellectual property overseas and opening up foreign markets now inaccessible to US companies.

Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a public policy think tank, said the trade deficit has grown partly because countries such as China and India have implemented high tariffs that weaken demand for American high-tech products.

"This report is a wake-up call that should shed light on the significant unfair trade practices other countries are engaged in," he said.