China just confirmed it’s the world’s AI powerhouse. A new report from Digital Science shows China now publishes more AI research than the US, UK, and EU combined. Its researchers are also pulling in over 40% of global AI citations in 2024—four times the US or EU individually.
China’s AI ecosystem leans heavily on internal talent and collaboration. Just 4% of China’s AI papers in 2024 included co-authors from the US, UK, or EU. In contrast, 25% of UK AI papers had Chinese collaborators. Even the US keeps its strongest research ties with China despite political tensions and export controls.
The report, DeepSeek and the New Geopolitics of AI by Digital Science CEO Dr Daniel Hook, highlights China’s rise as a strategic player. 
"AI is no longer neutral," Dr Hook says.
"Governments are using it as a strategic asset."
China’s open-source chatbot, DeepSeek, launched in early 2025, underscores this shift. It cut costs by avoiding pricey GPU training, and it’s shared under an MIT license. DeepSeek reflects years of heavy investment and a growing, young AI workforce of over 30,000 active researchers—double the US AI population.
China files nearly 10x more AI patents than the US, showing a focus beyond just publishing papers. Its AI research spreads across 156 institutions nationwide, making disruption or competition tougher.
Europe is lagging behind. The EU struggles to connect globally or turn research into patents. France, despite big AI funding, had no institution hit 50 AI papers in 2024. The UK still stands out for citation impact but increasingly leans on China for collaboration.
Chinese companies are closing in on US firms in AI R&D. While US research increasingly moves behind closed doors in places like OpenAI, China’s private sector is rapidly growing and catching up.
The report calls this a global turning point: China isn’t just a competitor anymore, it’s the new AI research hub with expanding scale, independence, and influence.
China’s AI push is fast, focused, and broad—with an eye on long-term dominance. The real winner will be the country that builds the full pipeline: talent, research, and impact. And China looks like it’s already there.
