China is ahead of the US in technological patent applications in nine categories according to a study by Nikkei. China held the top spot based on 2017 data and accounted for 49% of all applications in the 10 categories shown in the chart below:

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Source: Nikkei

The Nikkei study concludes that Chinese firms like Alibaba(BABA) and Baidu(BIDU) will be the major innovators.

The US the leader in Quantum Computing ahead of China. In all the other categories including AI, China leads the US.

From the Nikkei report:

The BATH quartet leads China’s astonishing rise, and its acquisitions of technologies are accelerating.

The BATH companies are Baidu, Alibabam Tencent and Huawei. Baidu has filed 1,760 applications since 2015, Alibaba filed 1,378 applications, Tencent filed 946 and Huawei submitted 1,895 applications.

The full report is worth a study.

Disclosure: No Positions