Top 5 Countries Leading In AI Research And Patents: Who’s Winning The AI Race?
Artificial Intelligence has become a central domain of comprehensive scientific war race. The lead in Artificial Intelligence is gradually determined not just by absolute publication volume, but by filing patent, quality of research, integrating talent pool, and how innovation interprets into actual applications. As AI research productivity has exploded, some of the countries have drawn far ahead.
China leads the AI research publications
China leads the AI research publications, worldwide. Its output rose from around 60,100 AI papers in 2015 to about 273,900 by 2024, providing roughly 40 % of global stake in AI‐related records. And, from the patent’s perspective, China filed around 300,000 AI patent requests in 2024, accounting for approximately 70 % of filings worldwide. Though several Chinese patents are local and are behind the US on average, the overall scale however is massive.
The US leads in quality of AI research
The US is still a leader in terms of quality of AI research, impactful papers, high citation rates, and introductory research. Though, China has surpassed in sheer number of papers, the US still often leads on measures of impact and foundational research. On patents, the US had about 67,800 AI patent applications in 2024, ranking next to China.
Japan comes third in the race of AI patent filing
Japan in the race of AI patent filing, comes on the third position, roughly around 26,400 in 2024, and has extensive focus on robotics, industrial automation, electronics, and heavy engineering in its AI innovation. The research output of Japan is quite modest in terms of global share compared to China or the US, but then again strong in technical penetration and reliability.
South Korea comes after Japan in AI Patents
South Korea comes after Japan and is another major player, particularly in AI patents. In the year 2024, South Korea filed about 23,700 AI‐related patent applications, putting it amongst the top five altogether. The key strength of South Korea’s is in consumer electronics, semiconductors, telecommunications, mobile devices, and related applied AI technologies, globally.
India is growing rapidly in AI patent applications
India is growing rapidly. The country has filed around 26,000 AI patent applications in the year 2024, not far behind Japan, and demonstrated very high progress, both in terms of AI publications and generative AI patenting. However, in research output, India is placing amongst the top three in some of the latest metrics by volume of AI publications. Its development in generative AI patents is particularly strong, that is, approximately 56 % annual progress in some sections.
