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U.S. vs. China: Share of the World’s AI Patent Applications
Share of AI patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, by inventors’ country and priority year, %
Plays the chart through its history. Pauses are where the data set a record or moved most.
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OECD, Patents in OECD selected technologies: international (PCT) applications, fractional counts by inventor country. Domestic-only filings are not included. The newest years are revised as applications are published. Palanor calculation.
International patent filings are where inventors seek protection in several markets at once. China's share of AI filings rose from almost nothing in the early 2000s to rival the U.S., passing it in 2020 and 2021 before the U.S. moved back ahead.
What this chart reads
- United States · Share of the World's AI Patent Applications (PCT, %)as “United States”latest 2024-12-31
- China · Share of the World's AI Patent Applications (PCT, %)as “China”latest 2024-12-31
Sources
United States · Share of the World's AI Patent Applications (PCT, %). Source: Palanor calculation from OECD, Patents in OECD selected technologies (PCT applications by inventor country, AI domain).
China · Share of the World's AI Patent Applications (PCT, %). Source: Palanor calculation from OECD, Patents in OECD selected technologies (PCT applications by inventor country, AI domain).
Charts are drawn from Palanor's signal library and recomputed from source data on every view. Transformations (changes, indexing, year-on-year rates) are Palanor's.