China's 'grasp' of the future: now the world's leading AI patent holder

According to a recent news report published by People's Daily, the largest newspaper group in China, China has become the world's largest holder of AI (artificial intelligence) patents, accounting for 60% of the global total. A growing body of evidence suggests that a significant number of innovators are allocating increasing amounts of investment to the field of AI. Furthermore, China's technological innovation and iteration vitality are continuously strengthening. With regard to the industry's values, by the conclusion of 2025, the core AI industry had attained a valuation in excess of 1.2 trillion yuan ($174.3 billion), with support from over 6,000 enterprises.

In 2025, domestic companies released multiple AI chip products. For instance, Huawei's Ascend family (310B for edge/inference, 910B and 910C for training) constituted a foundation of China's domestic AI hardware initiative. The nation's advanced computing capabilities, measured in Exaflop/s (EFLOPS), attained a noteworthy milestone of 1,590 EFLOPS in the previous year. EFLOPS, otherwise referred to as ExaFLOPS, is a unit of measurement for computing performance, with each unit representing 1 quintillion floating-point operations per second.

The generative AI landscape in China is currently characterised by a substantial presence of developers, strict regulatory frameworks, and a growing emphasis on open-source methodologies. The nation has demonstrated a pronounced commitment to the widespread implementation of generative AI across various sectors of the economy. By December 2025, the number of users of generative AI had reached 602 million, representing a substantial increase of 141.7% from the previous year. During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), generative AI became a primary driver for the digital and intelligent transformation of China's economy.

The penetration of artificial intelligence (AI) in China has reached 42.8%, reflecting its rapid integration into various aspects of work, education, and daily life. The emphasis remains on "innovation-driven progress," encompassing the introduction of domestic AI chips and high-quality datasets to ensure continued oversight of critical technologies. The field of artificial intelligence (AI) has seen significant advancements in recent years, with applications now encompassing smart factories, humanoid robotics, autonomous vehicles, and AI-assisted medical systems.

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