China has widened its lead over the US in artificial intelligence patent applications, according to data tracked by the World Intellectual Property Organization and cited by Bloomberg News on 24th.

Chinese companies and institutions filed 29,853 AI-related patents in 2022, up from 29,000 the previous year. China’s figure was nearly 80% higher than the US, which filed 16,805 AI patents in 2022, down 5.5% year-on-year.

Japan and South Korea were also among the top countries in AI patent applications in 2022, with 8,870 and 7,899 respectively.

The data showed that China accounted for more than 40% of the global AI patent applications in 2022.

China has increased its investment in AI and quantum computing, as its leaders called for accelerating basic scientific research. Beijing plans to boost its self-reliance in key areas, including chip manufacturing, space exploration and military science.

The move comes amid Washington’s recent efforts to prevent Beijing from accessing advanced technologies.

China’s tech giant Baidu is currently competing with other tech behemoths such as Alibaba and Tencent, as well as smaller startups such as ByteAI and ZhiPu AI, to cope with the US rivals’ open AI research centers for chatbots ChatGPT.

Huawei and other Chinese tech companies have already led the innovation in fields such as networking, supercomputing and image recognition.

The Asian country has been surpassing the US in AI patent applications since 2017, when Chinese companies applied algorithms to a range of businesses from online shopping to ride-hailing.