China led the world in artificial intelligence research in 2024, producing the largest volume of publications after developing a “nationwide innovation ecosystem”, according to a new report.
Despite rising geopolitical tensions, China was also the top AI research collaborator for the US, UK and European Union.
The study, , is published by research technology company Digital Science and authored by its chief executive, Daniel Hook.
The analysis used global data from its Dimensions database, covering research publication and collaboration trends from 2000 to 2024.
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It says that AI research has grown at an “impressive rate” globally, expanding from just under 10,000 publications in 2000 to 60,000 in 2024.
China was found to be “the pre-eminent world power in AI research,” leading not only by research volume but also by “citation attention, and influence,” with its lead over the rest of the world growing rapidly over the past seven years.
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In 2024, China’s publication output in AI research matched the combined output of the US, UK and EU, while its share of global citation attention exceeded 40 per cent.
Despite political tensions, the report finds that China has become the strongest AI research collaborator for the US, UK and EU, while itself needing “less reciprocal collaboration than any of them”.
China is also said to have the largest AI talent pool, with 30,000 active researchers and a large student and postdoctoral population, supporting what the report calls a “nationwide innovation ecosystem”.
The report highlights that 156 Chinese institutions each published more than 50 AI papers in 2024, contrasting with the more clustered research hubs in the West.
Alongside academic research, China also dominated AI-related patents. Patent filings and company-affiliated AI research showed China outpacing the US tenfold in some indicators, according to the report, reflecting the country’s ability to translate research into innovation.
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Hook argued that AI had become a “strategic asset, akin to energy or military capability”, adding that “China is actively leveraging this advantage”.
He added: “Governments need to understand the local, national and geostrategic implications of AI, with the underlying concern that lack of AI capability or capacity could be damaging from economic, political, social and military perspectives.”
The release of the DeepSeek chatbot in January 2025?was cited as one example of China’s emerging capabilities.
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“The emergence of DeepSeek is not merely a technological innovation – it is a symbol of a profound shift in the global AI landscape,” Hook said.
He described DeepSeek as demonstrating “China’s technological independence”, calling it a “cost-efficient, open-source LLM” that showed the country’s ability to “innovate around US chip restrictions and dominate AI development at scale”.
The report also describes the UK as “small but globally impactful”, saying that despite its modest size, the country consistently punches above its weight in “attention-per-output metrics”.
The EU, by contrast, “risks falling behind in translation and visibility.”
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The report says that while the EU benefits from strong internal collaboration, it “shows weaker international collaboration beyond its borders and struggles to convert research into applied outputs (patents, for example), raising concerns about its future AI competitiveness”.
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