According to an OECD March 2026 report, China's investment in research and development has reached parity with the United States, and by purchasing power measures has surpassed it. Both countries have crossed the US$1 trillion threshold on research spending. In 2024, China overtook the United States in total scientific publications, the first time any nation has displaced American dominance since the US surpassed the UK in 1948. That same year, China pulled ahead in the Nature Index, posting a 17% advantage over the US in publications in selective scientific journals. Chinese entities filed roughly 1.8 million patent applications in 2024, compared to the US's 603,191 applications.
China also leads in high-impact research. In 2019, China surpassed the US in its share of the top 1% most-highly cited papers, and by 2022, it had taken first place globally in most-cited papers overall. China leads in publishing highly impactful scientific studies in materials physics, chemistry, engineering, data science, and renewable energy. It has achieved breakthroughs such as bringing samples from the far side of the Moon, developing the AI model DeepSeek comparable to ChatGPT but on simpler chips, and sending quantum-encrypted messages via satellite to other continents.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump has proposed nearly halving funding for federal research financiers like NIH and NSF for 2026, though Congress has so far opposed these cuts. In Sweden, former Education Minister Mats Persson has warned universities about risks of defense secrets leaking when collaborating with research institutions with military connections. Four Swedish university rectors wrote a debate article arguing that Sweden should collaborate more scientifically with China.