Report shows China outpacing the US and EU in AI research
Governments now face the reality that falling behind in AI capability could have serious geopolitical consequences, warns a new research report.
AI is increasingly viewed as a strategic asset rather than a technological development, and new research suggests China is now leading the global AI race.
A report titled ‘DeepSeek and the New Geopolitics of AI: China’s ascent to research pre-eminence in AI’, authored by Daniel Hook, CEO of Digital Science, highlights how China’s AI research output has grown to surpass that of the US, the EU and the UK combined.
According to data from Dimensions, a primary global research database, China now accounts for over 40% of worldwide citation attention in AI-related studies. Instead of focusing solely on academic output, the report points to China’s dominance in AI-related patents.
In some indicators, China is outpacing the US tenfold in patent filings and company-affiliated research, signalling its capacity to convert academic work into tangible innovation.
Hook’s analysis covers AI research trends from 2000 to 2024, showing global AI publication volumes rising from just under 10,000 papers in 2000 to 60,000 in 2024.
However, China’s influence has steadily expanded since 2018, while the EU and the US have seen relative declines. The UK has largely maintained its position.
Clarivate, another analytics firm, reported similar findings, noting nearly 900,000 AI research papers produced in China in 2024, triple the figure from 2015.
Hook notes that governments increasingly view AI alongside energy or military power as a matter of national security. Instead of treating AI as a neutral technology, there is growing awareness that a lack of AI capability could have serious economic, political and social consequences.
The report suggests that understanding AI’s geopolitical implications has become essential for national policy.
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