Data from the National Intellectual Property Office of China (NIPA) shows that the number of patents and inventions valid in this country has reached 5.32 million, making China the first country in the world to surpass the 5 million mark, according to Globaltimes.
In the 14th 5-year period (2021-2025), the number of effective patents in China has continuously increased, equivalent to 16 high-value patents per 10,000 people. By the end of 2025, China's number of patent applications has been at the top of the world for many consecutive years, consolidating its position as a large country in intellectual property.
Mr. Wang Peng, a researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that data shows that China is shifting from a country with a lot of intellectual property to an intellectual property power.
Notably, the rate of patent growth is increasing rapidly. China took 31 years to achieve 1 million effective patents, but only about 19 months to increase the total from 4 million to 5 million, according to NIPA.
This trend reflects a shift in the economic structure and innovation ecosystem - from focusing on scale and speed to emphasizing quality, application value and core technology breakthroughs.
The change comes from increased spending on research and development, the active participation of businesses and universities, along with strengthening intellectual property protection and orienting towards improving the quality of patents.
By the end of 2025, China had 2.292 million high-value patents, of which about 70% were concentrated in emerging industries.
China currently accounts for about 60% of global patents in the field of artificial intelligence. Patents related to robots account for nearly two-thirds of the total number of applications in the world. The number of international publications under the Patent and Trademark Agreement in the field of green technology and low carbon emissions has also been at the top globally for many years.
Creative and invention activities contribute to promoting the goal of science and technology autonomy at a high level and developing new quality production forces.
NIPA also recorded an increase in foreign entities in the Chinese intellectual property system. As of the end of January 2026, foreign organizations and individuals hold more than 922,000 patents and inventions valid in this country. According to Mr. Wang, this is a sign that the intellectual property protection environment in China is increasingly improving.
