Baidu, sometimes referred to as the Chinese equivalent of Google, has filed more artificial intelligence (AI) patent applications than any other company in China, according to a report by Patent Protection Association of China.
The search engine company, which is valued at $191 billion, has filed 2,368 AI patent applications, according to the "Analysis on Artificial Intelligence Patents" report. Baidu is followed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2,036), Microsoft (1,648), Tencent (1,168) and Samsung (1,047).
The report also shows that Baidu is the patent application leader for four key AI areas. They include including natural language processing (693), smart search and recommendation (576), speech recognition (570) and autonomous driving (155).
The number of AI patent applications has skyrocketed in recent years as tech firms look to protect their breakthroughs in the burgeoning field.
