中美歐關(guān)鍵技術(shù)前沿創(chuàng)新領(lǐng)先企業(yè)比較研究Which+Companies+Are+Ahead+in+Frontier+Innovation+on+Critical+Technologies

22MAY2025

WHICHCOMPANIESARE

AHEADINFRONTIER

|ISSUE08/2025

INNOVATIONONCRITICAL

WORKINGPAPER

TECHNOLOGIES?COMPARING

CHINA,THEEUROPEANUNION

ANDTHEUNITEDSTATES

ALICIAGARCíA-HERRERO,MICHALKRYSTYANCZUKANDROBINSCHINDOWSKI

Competitionincriticaltechnologiesisattractingincreasingattentionnotonlybecause

ofthefoundationalnatureofthesetechnologiesforothertypesofinnovation,butalso

becauseoftheirroleintheUnitedStatesnationalsecuritystrategy.Inthispaper,welook

intowhichentitiesinChina,theEuropeanUnionandtheUSinnovateatthetechnology

frontierinthethreemostimportantcriticaltechnologies–artificialintelligence,quantum

computingandsemiconductors–basedonidentificationofthemostradicalnovelpatents

inthesetechnologiesandtheirsubsectors.Workingwiththesepathbreakingpatents,we

lookintotheoriginofthecompaniesthatfilethelargestnumbersofthem.USinnovators

dominatetheinnovationfrontierforquantumcomputingand,toalesserextent,AI,

withChineseinnovatorsdoingbetterinsemiconductors.Europeaninnovatorslagin

all,butperformrelativelybetterinquantumcomputing,inwhichtheyranksimilarly

toChineseinnovators.Furthermore,theinnovationecosystemisquitedifferentacross

geographies.IntheUS,techcompaniestoptherankingsofcriticalnoveltiesandarehighly

concentrated:asmanyasthreecompaniesareinthetoprankingsofallofthethreecritical

technologies.FrontierinnovatorsinthefieldinwhichtheEUcompetesmostequally

–quantum–aremostlyresearchcentresandnotcompanies.Chinaliessomewhatin

betweeninallthreedomains.

JEL:O30,O33,F52

Keywords:criticaltechnologies,patents,innovation,AI,quantumcomputer,

semiconductors

AliciaGarcía-Herrero(alicia.garcia-herrero@)isaSeniorFellowatBruegel.

MichalKrystyanczuk(michal.rystyanczuk@bruegel.org)isaDataScientistatBruegel.

RobinSchindowskiisaResearchFellowatMERICS.

Recommendedcitation:

García-Herrero,A.,M.KrystyanczukandR.Schindowski(2025)‘Whichcompaniesare

aheadinfrontierinnovationoncriticaltechnologies?ComparingChina,theEuropean

UnionandtheUnitedStates,’WorkingPaper08/2025,Bruegel

1

1Introduction

Quantumcomputing,semiconductorsandartificialintelligenceareatthecentreoftheUnitedStates-China

technologyrivalry.Theyarefoundationaltechnologieswithlargespillovereffectsandpotentialgainsin

productivity,andarethereforeessentialtothetechnologicalautonomyofanymajoreconomy.Somehaveevenarguedthateconomicsingularitythepointatwhichmachineintelligenceiscapableofinnovating

autonomouslyandbeyondhumancapabilitieswillresultfromprogressinthesetechnologies(Nordhaus,

2021).AIisatthecoreofthis.Itpromisestoimprovehumanjudgementbyprovidingpredictiveinsightsfrom

historicaldatathroughsimulatinghumanintelligence(Agrawaletal,2018).Furthermore,throughtechniquesofcomputervisionandgamesimulation,AIhasthepotentialtograntasignificantadvantageonthebattlefieldtothosepowersthatcanharnessit(Scharre,2024).

TheadvancementofAI,however,dependscruciallyoncomputingpower,forwhichthedeploymentandfurtherdevelopmentofcutting-edgesemiconductorsarenecessary.ThesemiconductorindustryischaracterisedbyahighlyglobalisedsupplychainandbyhighconcentrationwithrespecttotheproductionofadvancedlogicchipsneededforAIdevelopment.Itisthereforeparticularlysubjecttogeopoliticalrisk.

Finally,quantumcomputingisthemostembryonicofthethreetechnologies,buttheeconomicimplicationsarepotentiallyhuge.Oncematured,quantumcomputingcouldrendertraditionalsemiconductorchipsredundant,endingtheageofsilicon.Hence,itmayenablebreakthroughsinAI,biotechnology,agriculturaltechnology,

materialsciencesandcybersecuritythatwouldbeimpossiblefortraditionalsupercomputers(Kaku,2023).

Becauseoftheimportanceofthesethreetechnologiesforfuturecompetitiveness,China,theEuropeanUnionandtheUStheworldslargesteconomicblocsarepromotingtheiradvancementwithgrowingresourcesforresearchanddevelopment(R&D)andindustrial-policystrategies.TheUSadoptedtheCHIPSandScienceActin2022

1

tofurtherdevelopaUS-basedsemiconductorecosystemwhileattractingforeigninvestment.Inaddition,theUSfederalgovernmenthasattemptedtocurtailthetransfertoChinaofhigh-endsemiconductorsandthecomponentstoproducethem.Chinahasprioritisedformuchlongerthedevelopmentofthesetechnologiesinitsnationalindustrialplans.Inparticular,itsetuptheNationalIntegratedCircuitIndustryInvestmentFundin

2014,withatotalof$98.38billioninraisedfundsasoftoday.ChinahasalsoimplementeddedicatedindustrialpolicyinitiativessuchastheNationalGuidelinefortheDevelopmentandPromotionoftheIntegratedCircuit

Industry(2014)

2

andtheNewGenerationArtificialIntelligencePlan(2017)

3

.Finally,lessisknownabouthowChinasupportsquantumcomputing,althoughitappearsasapriorityincentralfive-yearplans.TheEU,

meanwhile,hasadoptedtheEuropeanChipsAct(Regulation(EU)2023/1781)andhasstartedtoinvestheavilyinAIandquantum-computingR&DthroughitsHorizonEuroperesearchfundingprogramme

4

.FurtherinitiativesexistatthenationallevelintheEU.

Inthispaper,westudywhoisengaginginfrontierinnovationinAI,semiconductorsandquantumcomputinginChina,theUSandtheEU.Todothis,weexploitadatasetofradicallynovelpatentsinthethreetechnologiescreatedbyGarcía-Herreroetal(2025).Theauthorsusealargelanguagemodel(LLM)togaugethedegreeof

1Thetextofthelawisavailableat

/117/plaws/publ167/PLAW-117publ167.pdf.

2See(inChinese)

/xinwen/2014-06/24/content_2707281.htm.

3See(inChinese)

/zhengce/content/2017-07/20/content_5211996.htm.

4DanCooper,LisaPeets,MartyHansen,SamJungyunChoiandMariannaDrake,EuropeanCommissionAnnouncesNewPackageofAIMeasures,InsideGlobalTech,14February2024,Covington,

/2024/02/14/european-commission-announces-new-package-of-ai-measures/.

2

noveltyofpatentsandthencategorisethesenoveltiesintosubfieldswithinthethreeabove-mentioned

technologies(egmemorytechnologyinsemiconductors).ThispaperisanextensionofGarcía-Herreroetal

(2025).Weshedlightspecificallyon:1)theentitiesthatfilethehighestnumberofradicalnoveltiesineach

technology,and2)thesubfieldsinwhichtheseentitiesinnovate.Thismoregranularanalysisallowsusto

betterunderstandwhereChina,theEUandtheUSstandinthistechrace,aswellasrelevantdifferencesintheirapproachestoinnovation,whetherintermsofthesubfieldsinwhichresearcheffortsarefocused,orthetypesofentitythatconductthetop-levelresearchwithvisibleoutcomes,namelyradicallynovelpatentsinthese

threefields.

2Whatradicalnoveltyinpatentedtechnologyrevealsandwhatitdoesnot

García-Herreroetal(2025)appliedanLLMtotheuniverseofpatentsfiledatthemainpatentregistries(theUS,theEUandtheWorldIntellectualPropertyOrganization(WIPO),ietheUSPTO,EPOandPCT)between2019and2023

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.Specifically,wedefineapatentasa‘radicalnovelty’inaparticularfieldiftherelatedinnovation,

identifiedfromthepatentabstractthroughtheLLM,hasneverappearedbeforeinapatentgrantsince1979,

andtheinnovationappearsatleastfivetimesinsubsequentpatents.Thesubfieldsreviewedforeachcritical

technologyinthenextfewsectionsarealsoidentifiedbyclassifyingallavailablepatentsthroughanLLM.WhileGarcía-Herreroetal(2025)focusedonthegeneralsubfieldevolutionwithineachregionandrelatedcross-

regionalpatterns,inthispaper,wefocusontheentitiesthatfilethehighestnumbersofradicalnoveltiesforeachregionandforeachtechnology.

First,however,wewanttoofferafewwordsofcautionontheindicatorweuse.Aradicalnoveltyaswehave

defineditismeanttorevealwhichentitiesarepatentingtechnologiesthatarelikelytoalterthetrajectoryofthetechnologyfrontierinthefuture.Thishastwoimplications.

First,welookonlyatpatentedtechnology.Whilepatentshavebeenusedextensivelytoquantifytheinnovativeperformanceofaneconomy,weacknowledgethat,justlikeeveryinnovationmetric,itcomeswithlimitations.Somefirmsmightnotdisclosetheirtechnologyinapatenttoguardsecrecy.AprominentexampleisCocaCola,whichneverfiledapatentforitsrecipe.SomeChinesefirmsmightnotdisclosetheirtechnologicalprogressinordertoavoidbeingsanctionedbytheUSgovernment.

Second,whileweprovidestatisticsonentity-levelsharesofradicalnoveltiesintotalpatentcounts,wewanttoemphasisethatourconceptofradicalnoveltyomitsincrementalinnovationsthatwouldneverthelessbecrucialintheadvancementoftheindustryandagivenfirm’scommercialsuccess.Forexample,thesumofsustainedsmall-scaleimprovementsintheefficiencyofaphotolithographymachinemighthavesignificantcommercialimplicationsbutmayrelyontechnologicallymaturemethods.Hence,relatedpatentswouldnotcountas

radicallynovelinouranalysis.Indeed,wefindthatChinesechipmanufacturerSMICfilesalotofpatents,butonlyarelativelysmallfractionofthesepatentsappearstoberadicallynovel.Photolithographymachine

producerASMLdoesnotevenappearamongthetoptenentitieswiththemostradicalnovelties.Whatweareextractingwithourconceptofradicalnoveltiesarethepatentsthatarelikelytoopenupanewtechnology

5BecauseofinflatedpatentfilinginChinaasaresultofsubsidyprogrammes,wehaveomittedChinesedomesticallyfiledpatents.Wedonotbelievethistobeanissueasthethreetechnologiesofconcernaresubjecttofierceinternational

competition,andhence,innovatorsarelikelytofilewithpatentofficeswhichofferinternationalvalidity.Forafurtherdiscussion,seeGarcía-Herreroetal(2025).

3

trajectory.Thesemaybecomecommerciallyvaluableinthenearorfarfutureandmayopenupnewpotentialforsignificantsubsequentinnovation.

3Somestylisedfactsongeneralpatentingtrendsincriticaltechnologies

PatentfilingsinAI,quantumcomputing,andsemiconductorshelpunderstandtheinnovationlandscapeinthesecriticaltechnologiesinChina,theEUandtheUS.

From2019to2023,ChineseAIpatentsgrewremarkably,risingfromover29,000in2019toalmost63,000in2023,wellabovetheUSnumber(Figure1).However,aswillbecomeclearlater,theseeminglyhighgap

betweenChinaandtheUSinthenumberofAIpatentsdisappearsandactuallyrunsintheUS’sfavourinmanyAIsubfieldswhenthenoveltyofeachpatentistakenintoaccount.EntitiesintheEUtendtofilethefewestpatents,andouranalysisofradicalnoveltiespresentedlaterwillnotchangethisunderwhelmingfinding.

Figure1:Publishedpatentsinsemiconductors

Source:WIPO.

TheUSdominatesintermsofnumbersofsemiconductor-relatedpatents,withmorethan210,000annually

(Figure2).ThisapparentdominanceinpatentnumbersbecomeslessevidentrelativetoChinawhenwecontrolforthenoveltyofthepatents.TheEUrankslastinthenumberofchippatents,andtheresultsarequitesimilarintheanalysistofollowwhencontrollingforthenoveltyofpatents.

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Figure2:Publishedpatentsinartificialintelligence

Source:WIPO.

Asforquantumcomputing,thesignificantlyhighernumberofpatentsoverallindicatesthattheUSdominates,withChinaandtheEUtrailingandwitharecentgrowinggapbetweenChinaandtheEU(Figure3).OuranalysiscontrollingforthenoveltyofpatentsoffersamorefavourableviewoftherelativeweightsofChinaandtheEU,althoughtheUSstilldominatesnovelpatentsinquantum.

Figure3:Publishedpatentsinquantumcomputing

Source:WIPO.

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4Howisthepatentinglandscapeevolvinginthesecriticaltechnologiesandwhichcompaniesaremostinnovative?

Toanswerthisquestion,weproceedasfollows:foreachtechnologyandeachregion,weextractthetenentities(firms,universitiesorresearchinstitutes)withthemostradicallynovelpatentspublishedfrom2019to2023.Throughoutthetext,werefertothemasfrontierinnovators.WethenusethesubfieldclassificationdevelopedinGarcía-Herreroetal(2025)tofurtherdecomposetheradicallynovelpatentsofeachentityintotechnology-specificsubfields.Inwhatfollows,wepresenttheresultsofthisanalysisforeachofthethreetechnologies.

4.1Artificialintelligence

Figure4showsthetenentitiesforeachregionthatfilethehighestnumberofradicallynovelpatentsinAI.AfewlargetechnologyincumbentsfromChinaandtheUSdominatetherawpatentcount,representedbythebars.

However,thepicturelooksslightlydifferentwhenconsideringtheshareofpatentsthatcountasradicalnovelty.Formostentitiesthisshareisbetween0.2percentand4percent,withfewlessactivelypatentingfirmswith

sharesofabove4percent.FrenchroboticsfirmStanleyRoboticshasthelowesttotalnumberpatentspublishedbetween2019and202363butsixofthesepatentswereradicalnovelties.Attheotherendofthe

spectrum,Baidurankshighestamongthepatentholderswith11,879totalpatents,butonly0.33percentofitspatentscontainaradicallynovelinnovation.Inwhatfollows,weexamineChina,theUSandEUseparately,

beginningwithChina.

Figure4:Patentcountandshareofradicalnoveltiesbyentity(AI)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

Figure5showsthemostprominentChinesepatenteesofradicalnoveltiesinAIandtheirsharesofthese

patentsamongfrontierinnovatorsovertime.Somewell-knownlargeChinesetechnologycorporationsare

6

amongthem,includingHuawei,insurancefirmPingAn,dronemanufacturerAutelRobotics,WeChatparentfirmTencent,AIfirmBaidu,TikTokparentfirmByteDanceandsmartphoneandIoTdevicemanufacturerOppo.The

mostimportantfrontierinnovatorsareHuaweiandPingAn.PingAnreacheditshighestsharein2021with29.94percentofradicalnovelties,andHuaweididsoin2023with34.09percent.Tencentalsoincreaseditsshare

from7.96percentin2019to18.18percentin2023.

Alongsidethese,threemajorChineseroboticsfirmsareamongthefrontierinnovators.AutelRoboticsisoneofChina’smajordronemanufacturers,anditsproductsareusedforpublicsecurity,agricultureandindustrial

purposes.Itaccountedfor25percentoffrontierinnovators’radicalnoveltiesin2019,butitssharedroppedto6.38percentby2023.InJuly2024,itwasplacedontheUSEntityList

6

,restrictingthefirm’saccesstoUS

goods,software,andtechnology.UBTECHRobotics,amanufacturerofservicerobots,hasgainedgroundinthepatentingofradicalnovelties,appearingforthefirsttimeinthedatain2020andreachingashareof14.1

percentin2022.Finally,theoperatorofcloudservicesforroboticsapplications,CloudMindsRobotics,wasamajorinnovatorin2019,accountingfor23.89percentofthenoveltiesamongthetoptenfirms,butmostlydisappearedfromthedataafter2020.

Figure5:RadicalnoveltiesinAIbyentity(China,2019–2023)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

Amoredetailedpictureemergeswhenlookingatthesubfieldsinwhichthefrontierinnovatorsareactive.WiththeexceptionofAutelRobotics,almostallofthetoptenAIinnovatorsfromChinahavemadesignificant

contributionsineither‘computervision’or‘imageprocessing’.ChiefamongtheseisByteDancewith75percentofitsradicalnoveltiesinthetwofieldscombined,followedbyelectronicsdisplayproducerBOETechnology

(64.51percent),gamingandsocialmediagiantTencent(63.93percent)andOppo(62.22percent).

6See

/entity-list.

7

Inadditiontofirmsthatfocusontheprocessingofvisualdata,roboticsfirmsaredriversofAIinnovationin

China,althougheachofthethreeroboticsfirmsinoursubsetspecialisesinsomewhatdifferentsubfields.

UBTECHRoboticsradicallynovelpatentsarefocusedonbothcomputervision(32.14percent)androbotics

(60.71percent).AutelRoboticsistheonlyfirminourdatainnovatingsignificantlyinaerialvehicletechnology(46.67percentofitsradicalnovelties).CloudMindsRobotics,asanoperatorofrobotics-relatedITinfrastructure,ismorediversified,appearingalsointelecommunications(24.32percent),computervision(18.92percent),machinelearning(8.11percent),datastorage(5.41percent)anddataanalytics(5.41percent).

AmongthemorediversifiedfirmsareHuaweiandPingAn,whicharealsothemostdominantfrontierinnovatorsinthisarea.Huaweiappearstobestrongbothintheprocessingofvisualandtextualdata,withsharesof23.53percentincomputervision,15.44percentinimageprocessing,21.32percentinmachinelearning,10.24

percentinnaturallanguageprocessing(NLP)andsmallerbutstillsignificantsharesindataanalytics(7.35percent)andtelecommunications(4.41percent).PingAn,withheavyinvestmentinhealthcareand

telemedicinesolutions,financialservicesandfrauddetection,hasastrongpresenceinnaturallanguage

processing(25.74percent),dataanalytics(11.88percent)andmachinelearning(11.88percent).Finally,BaiduasChinaslargestsearchengineproviderandamajorinnovatorinautonomousdrivinghasfileda

numberofnovelpatents,splitintotheprocessingofvisualdata(33.34percentincomputervisionandimageprocessing)andtheprocessingoftextualandaudiodata(30.77percentinnaturallanguageprocessing).

Figure6:Chinesefrontierinnovatorsandtheirrelatedsubfields(AI)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

FortheUnitedStates,Figure7showsthegeneraltrendinAIinnovation.Ascanbeseenfromthelinegraphwiththescaleontheright-handaxis,despitetheCOVID-19pandemic,andcontrarytothetrendinChina,patentingofradicalnoveltiesinAIhasstronglyacceleratedintheUS.Thenumberofradicalnoveltiesamongallinnovatorsinthefield(notonlythoseinoursubsetoffrontierinnovators)almostdoubledfrom298in2019to571in2023.AnotherstrikingfeatureisthattheUSfrontierinnovatorsareexclusivelylargeincumbenttechnologyfirms,

mostnotablyGoogle,whichaccountedforashareof23.86percentin2023,Microsoft(18.75percent)andIBM

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(11.93percent).Qualcommsignificantlyincreaseditssharefrom3.15percentin2019to20.45percentin

2023.ChipfirmsNvidiaandIntelalsoaccountedforstrongsharesinAI-relatedfrontierinnovationin2023,

reaching6.82percentand7.95percent,respectively.ExceptforQualcommandIBM,thesharesofinnovationofUSAIinnovatorshaveremainedfairlystable.

Figure7:RadicalnoveltiesinAIbyentity(US,2019–2023)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

Thecategorisationofthisinnovationintosubfieldsisalsotelling(Figure8).First,allfrontierinnovatorsholdsignificantsharesof‘machinelearning’,withMicronholdingthelargestshare,withprecisely50percentofitsradicalnovelties.ExceptforAmazonandIBM,companies’sharesof‘computervision’arealsosubstantial,andapplicationsacrossthefrontierinnovatorsarebroad.Forexample,Qualcomm,NvidiaandMicron,forwhich

38.46percent,29.56percentand27.78percentrespectivelyoftheirradicalnoveltiesareinthisfield,are

knowntoapplycomputer-visiontechniquestoautonomousdriving,whileGoogle(18.92percent),IBM(9.89percent),Intel(30.56percent)andNvidiaequallyusecomputervisiontoenhancetheirfirms’servicesfortheprocessingofmedicalimages.

‘Naturallanguageprocessing’(NLP)islikewiseastrongfield,especiallyforAmazon,whichhasashareof58.34percentofitsradicalnoveltiesinrelatedinnovation,andtoalesserextentOracle(31.25percent)andIBM

(31.87percent).Thisisnotsurprising,asmethodsofNLPareofferedasabusinessservicebyallofthesefirms.Forinstance,AmazonWebServicesoffersNLPtechniquestobusinessestoanalysesocial-mediacontentandcustomerfeedback.AmazonalsoreliesonNLPforitscorebusiness.Initse-commercesegment,NLP

contributestopredictingcustomertypesfromsearchqueriesandoptimisingproductrecommendations

(Amazon,2023).IBMandOraclespecialiseintheapplicationofNLPforbusinesscommunications,suchasentityrecognition,automaticupdatingofcustomerinformationandfacilitatedsearchqueriesforbusinessdatabases.AmazonandIBMarealsoinnovativein‘dataanalytics’moregenerally.

9

Finally,NvidiaandAdobearetheonlyfirmswithanon-trivialshare(9.09percentand6.67percentoftheir

radicalnovelties,respectively)in‘generativeAI’.Nvidia’sprovisionofitsgenerativeAIplatformasaserviceforthedevelopmentofOpenAI’sChatGPTisinalignmentwiththis.GivencurrentmarkettrendsintheUS,weexpectthisfieldtogrowinimportancewhenitcomestoradicalinnovation.

Figure8:USfrontierinnovatorsandtheirrelatedsubfields(AI)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

IntheEU,ascanbeseenfromthelinegraphinFigure9,theabsolutenumberofradicalnoveltiesbyEU

patenteesremainsmodestcomparedtotheUSandChina.However,itstillgrewfrom70in2019to90in2023.MajorfrontierinnovatorsarethetwoprominenttelecommunicationfirmsEricssonandNokia,withtheformerhavingovertakenthelatterinrecentyears.Siemenshasalsomaintainedasubstantialshareamongthetopinnovators,eventhoughdecreasingfrom30.77percentofthetotalto20.83percentin2023.Since2021,theFrenchroboticsfirmStanleyRoboticshasappeared,witharound8percentoftheEuropeanradicalnoveltiesinthisfieldsincethen.TheFrenchaerospaceanddefencecorporationSafranisalsoanimportantfrontier

innovator,with15.38percentoftotalEUradicalnoveltiesin2020,butwithalargereductionin2023.

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Figure9:RadicalnoveltiesinAIbyentity(EU,2019–2023)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

AdistinguishingfeatureofEuropeaninnovationinAIisitsrelativelysmallconcentrationinadvanced

manufacturingandrobotics,exceptforStanleyRobotics(Figure10).Thisisparticularlysurprisinggiventhe

EUslong-standingcomparativeadvantageinhigh-endmanufacturing.Somefirmsalsospecialiseinmachinelearning,notablySiemens(53.34percent),Bosch(33.34percent),Ericsson(33.34percent),Nokia(33.34

percent)andAccenture(40percent).CarlZeissandtheFrenchresearchorganisationCommissariatàl’énergieatomiqueetauxénergiesalternatives(CEA)areinnovatinginadvancedmedicaltechnologies,althoughtheabsolutenumberonlyfiveandfourradicalnovelties,respectivelyissmall.AccentureandSAP,major

providersofbusinessservices,arealsoinnovatinginnaturallanguageprocessing,withsharesof30percentand40percentofradicalnoveltiesinthisfield,respectively.

AlargefractionofEuropeanAIinnovationisalsodrivenbytheEUstwomajortelecommunicationfirms,EricssonandNokia.BothfirmshaveinvestedinAI-drivenoptimisationofnetworkperformance,energyefficiencyand

reliability,whichrequirescapabilitiesinmachinelearning(inourdatawith33.34percentand33.34percent,respectively)andtelecommunications(33.34percentand16.67percent)moregenerally.Bothfirmsalso

innovateincomputervision(11.11percentand27.28percent).Finally,theFrenchdefencecorporationSafranalsofocusesontheprocessingofvisualdata,namelycomputervisionandimageprocessing.Thisisnot

surprisinggiventhefirmscapabilitiesinautomatedtargetrecognitionandgroundandairsurveillance.

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Figure10:EUfrontierinnovatorsandtheirrelatedsubfields(AI)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

4.2Semiconductors

Wenowmovetooursecondcriticaltechnology,semiconductors.Figure11showstherawpatentcountsin

relationtothesharesofradicalnoveltyoffrontierinnovatorsinthethreeregionsunderobservation.OnestrikingfeatureishowmanyEuropeanfirmsareamongtheentitieswiththehighestrawpatentcounts,representedbythebars.TheseincludeBavarianoptoelectronicsfirmOsram,Siemens,InfineonandFranco-Italianchipfirm

STMicroelectronics.Well-knownsemiconductorincumbentsfromtheUSalsofeatureprominentlyinfrontierinnovation,includingIBM,Micron,IntelandTexasInstruments.ChipmanufacturerSMICleadspatentingfor

China,butonly0.29percentofitspatentsareconsideredradicallynovel.Generallyspeaking,theshareof

radicalnoveltiesintotalpatentsislowforlargeincumbentfirmsandusuallydoesnotexceed1percent.Someexceptions,however,arevisible.OfthepatentsfiledbyChineseconsumerelectronicsgiantTCLTechnology,18.58percentfallunderourdefinitionofradicalnovelty.ChangxinandYangtzeMemoryTechnologyhave

sharesof6.12percentand11.38percent,respectively.Wenowtakeadeepdiveintoeachregionseparately,startingwithChina.

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Figure11:Patentcountandshareofradicalnoveltiesbyentity(semiconductors)

Source:BruegelbasedonWIPO.

Figure12showsthefrontierinnovatorsacrosstheperiodofobservationinChina.Asageneraltrend,the

importanceofChinaspreviouslymostinnovativefirm,TCLTechnology,hasdiminished,fromashareof74.83percentin2019toamere18.13percentin2023.Since2022,memorytechnologyandchipfabricationhave

becomemoreimportant

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,whichisrepresentedbyChangxinMemory(CXMT)andYangtzeMemory(YMTC),twoofChinasfastest-growingsemiconductormanufacturingfirms.Bothhavebenefittedfrominvestmentby

ChinasBigFundinthepast.CXMTfoundedin2016asaprivatefirmreceived$724.18millionfromtheBigFundin2020aspartofa$2.38billiondealwith13co-investors(Pitchbook,2024).Similarly,YMTCwasfoundedbystate-ownedTsinghuaUnigroupin2016withaninitialinvestmentfromtheBigFund,althoughtheexact

amountremainsundisclosed.CXMTspecialisesinDRAM,whileYMTCfocusesonNANDFlashchips

8

.Thevisible

7Memorytechnologyhastraditionallypresentedacriticalstartingpointforcountriesthataimatbuilding