In the first half of this year, the number of AI users in China surpassed 700 million, showing rapid growth. Over the past year, the United States has demonstrated significant growth in AI investment, while South Korea lags behind the U.S. and China in scale but leads in usage expansion and robot density.
According to the IT industry on the 30th, the Microsoft AI Economy Institute released its 'Global AI Expansion Q2 2026 Report' on the 21st, indicating that the share of generative AI users aged 15 to 64 in South Korea reached 40.6%, ranking 12th globally.
This marks an increase from 25.9% (25th place) in the first half of last year, a rise of 14.7 percentage points, the largest increase among major economies for three consecutive quarters. During the same period, the U.S. rose from 26.3% (23rd) to 33.0% (21st), a 6.7 percentage point increase, while the global average increased from 15.1% to 18.8%, a 3.7 percentage point rise. China saw a smaller increase from 15.4% to 17.5%, remaining outside the top rankings. However, a separate Chinese survey indicated that the adoption rate of generative AI is nearing 50%.
In terms of investment growth, the U.S. significantly outpaced others. According to the Stanford AI Index, private AI investment in the U.S. reached $285.9 billion last year, a 160.2% increase from the previous year. In contrast, China’s investment grew by 32.2% to $12.4 billion, only one-fifth of the U.S. growth rate.
The total corporate AI investment, as reported by Stanford, reached $581.69 billion, a 129.9% increase year-over-year. The number of newly funded AI companies in the U.S. was 1,953, significantly higher than China’s 161, and globally, the total reached 3,499, a 70.8% increase. The top five countries for AI investment were the U.S., the U.K. (172 companies), China, India (92 companies), and Germany (84 companies), with South Korea not included.
China stands out in computing and humanoid patents. According to the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), as of June, the scale of intelligent computing in China increased by 177% over the past year. In the first half of this year, AI-related investment and financing reached 250.14 billion yuan, equivalent to 182% of last year’s total. The share of humanoid patent applications also rose from 51.8% in 2024 to 60.8% in the first half of this year. In contrast, the U.S. share fell from 27.3% to 21.8%, and South Korea’s share dropped from 6.3% to 4.6%.
China has already taken the lead in robot adoption in manufacturing. According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), new installations of industrial robots in China are expected to reach a record 295,000 units in 2024, followed by Japan (44,500 units), the U.S. (34,200 units), and South Korea (30,600 units). Although South Korea ranked fourth in installation numbers, it has the highest robot density globally, measured by the number of robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers.
In terms of capital investment growth among big tech companies, China slightly outpaced the U.S. According to reports from Al Jazeera citing Goldman Sachs, the spending of four major Chinese tech firms is expected to reach approximately $102 billion this year, an increase of over 80%, surpassing the U.S. firms' spending of about $764 billion (a 76% increase).
According to the Stanford survey, the performance gap between the top models in the U.S. and China narrowed to 2.7% in March this year, down from a range of 17.5% to 31.6% in May 2023. However, in computing, the U.S. share remains around 75%, while China’s is about 14%, indicating a significant gap. Last year, the number of major AI models was 59 in the U.S., 35 in China, and 8 in South Korea, with the three countries occupying the top three positions.
Looking ahead, it is projected that the U.S. will surpass China in capital investment growth next year. Moody's forecasts that capital investment by Chinese big tech firms will increase from approximately $140 billion this year to $165 billion next year, an 18% rise, while six U.S. firms are expected to approach $1 trillion, with a potential increase of up to 27%.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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