WIPO Data Shows China Filed 43,000 Generative AI Patents in Two Years as Global Race Intensifies

New data from the World Intellectual Property Organization confirms that China has become the dominant force in generative AI intellectual property, with patent output that now exceeds its entire prior decade of filings in just two years.

The Numbers Behind China's Lead

WIPO's Technology SPARK Report, published July 14, 2026, extends its 2024 Patent Landscape Report through the end of 2025. China-based inventors published over 43,000 generative AI patent families in 2024 and 2025 combined, more than their entire cumulative output from 2014 to 2023. China's compound annual growth rate for generative AI patents reached 64% between 2023 and 2025.

Six of the world's top ten generative AI patent applicants are based in China. Tencent leads with 2,702 patent families, followed by Ping An Insurance (2,240) and Baidu (1,902). The Chinese Academy of Sciences holds 1,396 families, making it the leading research institution in the field globally. SoftBank of Japan holds the single largest total at nearly 3,000 families, almost all filed in 2025.

The US Is Accelerating Too

US generative AI patent families grew from approximately 1,185 in 2023 to over 4,380 in 2025, a 92% compound annual growth rate, which is actually higher than China's over the same period in percentage terms. Google leads US-based applicants with 1,083 patent families, followed by Microsoft (865) and IBM (821). Notably, NVIDIA entered the global top 25 with 497 patent families, reflecting its expansion beyond GPU hardware into AI software and model architectures.

Key Takeaways

• Generative AI patents more than tripled in two years — total published patent families rose from roughly 14,000 in 2023 to over 37,800 in 2025.
• Enterprise sectors are filing, not just tech companies — WIPO Director General Daren Tang noted that patents are now coming from finance, telecom, infrastructure, and digital services.
• Generative AI's share of all AI patents hit 8.7% — up from 6.1% in 2023 and just 4.2% in 2017, reflecting the technology's rapid commercial trajectory.

Read the full article on London Insider