The World of GenAI – Top Companies in Generative AI

The world of GenAI in one chart – Alphabet leads Tencent and Baidu in world-class GenAI patents

The chart shows all companies worldwide with at least four GenAI patents and their development over the past ten years. The colour coding makes clear that GenAI activity has increasingly shifted towards China in the last five years – both among the leading companies and across the broader landscape. The contrast with Europe is striking. The United States shows less breadth than China but remains strongly represented among the top players.

The smaller cluster of bubbles represents world-class patents (click on the button “separate world-class in 2025”), where the picture shifts: the balance tips in favor of the United States. Alphabet leads, ahead of Tencent and Baidu, with Adobe, NVIDIA and Microsoft also among the top ten. Siemens is the only European firm in the top ten, with Bosch following in the top twenty. Europe’s challenge is not a lack of top companies – it lacks a broad base of companies active in this technology.

SoftBank’s rise is remarkable. Within just 12 months, and starting almost from zero, it has built a large GenAI patent portfolio and now leads globally in total patent volume (2,400), ahead of Ping An (1,080), Baidu (1,050) and Tencent (960). However, these filings have little impact on world-class patent rankings. More on this special case and its implications for the global patent system will follow soon.

The area chart shows the total GenAI patent volume by country, including contributions from universities and research institutions. By this measure, China’s lead is even more pronounced. As of November 2025, roughly 55,000 GenAI patents exist worldwide.

The analysis is based on the generative AI definition developed by EconSight for the World Intellectual Property Organization, which has become the standard for this technology. (more information)