China has been the country with the most number of patents published in artificial intelligence (AI), slightly edging the United States and Japan (Note: the three countries combined for 74% of world's total), according to the "China's AI Development Report 2018" released by China Institute for Science and Technology Policy at Tsinghua University.
In 2017, the market value of China's AI Industry reached 23.7 billion yuan, up 67% year on year. There are 1,011 companies engaging in this line of business, second only to the U.S. number of 2,028. China is the busiest country in mapping AI technologies by filing patents, leading the U.S. and Japan by a small margin. These three countries combined account for 74% of the world's total of AI patents published. IBM, Microsoft and Samsung are the front-running patent applicants globally while China State Grid, an up and coming startup in the past five years, immediately follows at No.4 Technology in the globe.
Source: SIPO