The US regained the number one position for investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) in 2018 after losing the spot to China in 2017. The findings provided by ABI Research stated that the US accounted for 52.3% of the global available venture capital for AI startups in 2018. The trade war between both economies is said to be one of the reasons why China lost the number one spot. The venture capital for AI in the US is expected to reach 70% in 2019.
Lian Jye Su, Principal Analyst, ABI Research, asserted that the US is reaping the rewards of its diversified AI investment strategy. The top AI startups are from various sectors, including self-driving cars, industrial manufacturing processes, data analytics, cybersecurity, and different robotic processes. China managed to achieve a 54% Year-on-Year (YoY) growth rate in 2018 despite losing the first spot to the US.
ABI Research also exhibited that even though both countries have an equal number of installed AI-enabled devices, the US-based industrial manufacturers are ahead in the game owing to their deftness to unify AI capabilities with their operations.
The Chinese manufacturing industry still relies on its abundant human resources and government tax incentives to compete with its international counterpart. On the other hand, the US manufacturing sector is grappling with expensive US labor to enhance production efficiency and lower operational costs. Therefore, AI applications are serving as a judicious alternative for the US.
The Chinese government is also ramping up efforts for the manufacturing units to adopt AI. The government is suggesting alternative solutions for specific operational tasks to be replaced by AI to make the manufacturing industry efficient and faster. The US will continue to dominate the industrial AI while China will be an aggressive player when it comes to implementation and a more significant deployment.
The US is an open economy that makes its AI investment more logical than China because despite the opportunities offered; there are a lot of government regulations in the Chinese state.
