China Busy in Mapping AI Patents

China was the country with the most number of patents published in artificial intelligence (AI), slightly edging the United States and Japan, according to the "China's AI Development Report 2018" released by China Institute for Science and Technology Policy at Tsinghua University. These three countries combined account for 74% of the world's total of AI patents published.

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.

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.