China · AI Patent Applications (PCT, by inventor country)

## What this measures

The number of artificial-intelligence patent applications filed internationally under the PCT by inventors in China, each year. Applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), counted by priority year (the year of first filing) and by the country where the inventors live. Counts are fractional: an application with inventors in two countries counts half to each, so no application is counted twice across countries. Which applications count as AI follows the OECD's own definition, described in the OECD.AI technical paper.

## Why it matters

Patents are an early, public footprint of invention: firms file before products ship. International (PCT) filings are the ones an inventor means to protect in several markets, which makes countries comparable on one scale.

## How to read it

Higher means more AI inventions filed for international protection that year. The newest priority years are revised up as applications are published, which happens about 18 months after the first filing.

## What it does not say

It counts filings, not granted patents, quality or commercial value. Many inventions are filed only at home: China's domestic filings, for one, are far larger than its PCT filings, so this understates the volume of domestic patenting everywhere. AI is defined by patent classes and keywords, which change as the field does.

## Source

OECD, Patents in OECD selected technologies (PCT applications by inventor country, AI domain). Reuse permitted with credit to the OECD.