China is winning the AI patent race

Shakespeare may have once written that the whole world’s a stage, but today it’s all a race. Specifically, a race between the US and China.

The AI sector is no different as the two superpowers are locked in a battle to dominate the industry, at least according to the headlines.

China is leading the US by a considerable distance in one aspect of the AI race: patents.

As the chart above shows, Chinese companies dominate the list of firms with the most AI and machine learning patents worldwide. Of the 10 companies highlighted, seven are Chinese, with two American firms and a single South Korean player rounding out the list.

In fact, the top four companies are all Chinese, with only IBM flying the Stars and Stripes in the top five. Baidu alone has just under 14,000 patents, more than twice the number that Microsoft holds.

While the number of patents alone doesn’t indicate greater competency in an area of technology, it does hint that China could have a leg up on the US in the AI innovation race.