Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Patent pursuits
China | Technology
September 1, 2022 – China appears to be at the forefront of producing quantum technology advancements. The country is home to more than half of all companies that hold patents in quantum technologies, well ahead of the 15 percent in Japan, 11 percent in the European Union, and 10 percent in the United States.
To read the article, see “Quantum computing funding remains strong, but talent gap raises concern,” June 15, 2022.
customizer here
Visual form
A 100 percent stacked column chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is laid out as one chart with a country legend on the left and four vertical columns running left to right across the page: Overall, Quantum computing, Quantum communications, and Quantum sensors. Each column is followed by a bracketed callout on the right, and the note and source sit beneath the graphic.
What is being compared
The chart compares where quantum patents are headquartered across four patent buckets, so the reader is comparing countries against one another within the overall patent pool and within three major technology segments.
Measurement system
The measurement is percentage share of quantum patents by company headquarters from 2000 to 2021. Each column represents a full 100 percent split, with colors mapping countries in the legend and the callout boxes highlighting China’s exact share in each category.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Inside the chart, each of the four columns is segmented into country slices for China, Japan, the EU, the US, South Korea, Taiwan, the UK, Canada, Switzerland, and Russia. China is the dark top segment in every column, Japan and the US make up the next largest visible blocks in several categories, and the communications column shows a more mixed middle stack than the other three.
Main takeaway from the visual
The visual shows China holding the largest patent share in every major type of quantum technology, with the widest dominance in sensors and the narrowest, though still leading, position in communications. The evidence is visible in the dark top segment staying largest in all four columns and in the callouts that put China well above every other country grouping each time.
Key standout values or extremes
The strongest anchored values on the page are China’s highlighted shares: 53.8 percent overall, 54.1 percent in quantum computing, 46.2 percent in quantum communications, and 59.7 percent in quantum sensors. The highest value is in sensors, just under 60 percent, while communications is the lowest of the four, but it still leaves China in first place.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.