Tsinghua University’s AI patent count surpassed that of the U.S. Ivy League institutions over the past two decades. The Beijing-based university secured more than 900 patents in 2024 alone, with a total of 4,986 patents between 2005 and the end of 2024. This feat exceeds the combined patent count of MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Harvard during the same period. China now holds over 50% of the world’s active AI and machine learning patent families, according to LexisNexis data analytics.
The university also leads in AI research papers among the 100 most cited. However, the U.S. still maintains the most influential AI patents and the top-performing models. Harvard and MIT continue to rank ahead of Tsinghua in patent influence. While American institutions produced 40 notable AI models in 2024, Chinese organizations accounted for only 15, according to the Stanford AI Index Report. China’s share of the world’s elite AI researchers — the top 2% — increased from 10% in 2019 to 26% in 2022. Meanwhile, the U.S. share fell from 35% to 28% during the same period, according to the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation.