US Top-5 tech companies vs. Chinese Top-5 tech companies – advanced digital technologies

Microsoft top in a majority of advanced digital technologies – US big tech ahead in cloud and big data – Chinese companies leading in AI and blockchain.

In the first part of our comparison, we were able to show the different technological priorities of the big tech companies based on human-machine interface technologies. Now we continue with a comparison of advanced digital technologies, i.e. big data, cloud computing, AI and quantum computing. Once again, we highlight the world-class patents of the 10 companies from the US and China.

Microsoft is leading in four out of seven categories. Its lead is particularly large in cloud technologies, with a world share of 5.9%, well ahead of second-placed Amazon with less than half that. But Microsoft is also ahead in cyber security and big data.

The activities of the major hyperscalers Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft are very clearly reflected in the patents in big data and cloud. US companies are leading the way here.

Chinese companies, on the other hand, are very strong in advanced AI (neural networks and deep learning). Tencent, with a 3.9% world share, and Baidu (3.5%) are well ahead of their US competitors Amazon and Alphabet, each with a 2.4% world share.

From a Chinese perspective, the significant lead in blockchain is also striking. Tencent leads here with a 5.9% world share, ahead of Alibaba and Baidu with 2% each. US big tech companies are significantly behind here, accounting for less than half of Tencent’s world share.

Chinese and American companies are neck and neck in quantum computing. Baidu leads ahead of Microsoft, Tencent and Alphabet.

It is also striking that Chinese companies are very dynamic and have gained significant global market share in recent years, at the expense of US companies, which have lost market share accordingly. It is striking that of the US big tech companies, only Amazon was able to gain global market share.

While these companies clearly dominate the technologies with cumulative world shares of up to 40% in last week’s post on human-machine interface technologies, the cumulative world shares of the 10 big tech companies in advanced digital technologies are in some cases well below 20%, meaning that the big tech companies are less dominant here.

This is a comparison of the 10 big tech companies from the US and China. In most technologies, these are also the world’s leading companies. However, there are some additional companies that would appear in the rankings with significant patent portfolios in individual technologies, such as Ping An, Intel, Nvidia and IBM. However, they are not in the leading positions. The exception is quantum computing. Here, IBM leads with a world share of 8.6%, followed by Intel with 6.5%, ahead of the 10 Big Tech companies.

Technology Profiles

The profiles show all advanced digital technologies per company. Please choose company from the drop down menu. The profile shows the technological activities as world shares held by the company in each technology. World share is defined as the share of company world class patents in total global patents in a technology. A bubble position at the top shows a high world share (vertical axis). The horizontal axis shows the dynamics of the technology as the change in world market share in recent years. Bubbles on the right side are very dynamic.