Who gained ground in technology research in 2025
In 2025, Italy and South Korea gained ground in the most technologies outside China and the United States, and China took the lead in gene editing and genome sequencing from the United States.
Data: OpenAlex, papers published in 2024 and 2025, each year ranked against its own papers; pulled 24 October 2026. A gain is shown only where the country had at least 5 papers' worth of credit in 2024 and 10 in 2025.
The biggest gains, outside China and the United States
Each country's share of the year's 10% most cited papers, 2024 (hollow) against 2025 (filled). Hover or tap a row for more.
20242025Share of the year's most cited papers
China led 28 technologies in 2025; the United States 3
Counting the 31 technologies with at least 100 top papers in both years. In 2024: China 26, the United States 5.
Two technologies changed leader
| Technology | Led in 2024 | Led in 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Gene editing | US United States 31.1% | CN China 36.8% |
| Genome sequencing | US United States 32.8% | CN China 29.4% |
Countries that gained in the most technologies
Technologies where each country's share rose, or fell, by a point or more in 2025. Only countries with more gains than falls.
- ITItaly7 up4 down
- KRSouth Korea7 up4 down
- SASaudi Arabia5 up2 down
- JPJapan4 up1 down
- IRIran3 up1 down
- TRTurkey2 up0 down
- MYMalaysia2 up1 down
Every technology, 2024 to 2025
| Technology | Led in 2025 | China | United States | Biggest other gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6G and advanced wireless | China 39.0% | −2.5 pts | −2.0 pts | Singapore +1.5 pts |
| Additive manufacturing | China 36.3% | −4.5 pts | −1.2 pts | Italy +1.4 pts |
| Advanced composites | China 52.0% | −1.4 pts | +0.7 pts | South Korea +2.8 pts |
| Advanced robotics | China 34.4% | +4.3 pts | −4.9 pts | Japan +3.1 pts |
| AI chips | China 51.6% | +5.5 pts | −5.7 pts | Saudi Arabia +2.0 pts |
| Critical minerals processing | China 48.1% | −0.4 pts | −1.2 pts | South Korea +3.0 pts |
| Cybersecurity | China 16.0% | +2.1 pts | −0.3 pts | Saudi Arabia +2.0 pts |
| Distributed ledgers | China 20.6% | +0.4 pts | −0.5 pts | Spain +1.9 pts |
| Drones and swarming | China 56.4% | 0.0 pts | +2.9 pts | Saudi Arabia +1.2 pts |
| Electric batteries | China 71.8% | −0.5 pts | −0.4 pts | South Korea +0.4 pts |
| Gene editing | China 36.8% | +7.8 pts | −6.4 pts | Germany +0.7 pts |
| Genome sequencing | China 29.4% | +2.8 pts | −6.5 pts | Germany +6.3 pts |
| Hydrogen by electrolysis | China 58.7% | +2.0 pts | −0.3 pts | India +1.4 pts |
| Hydrogen storage and ammonia fuel | China 48.9% | −0.7 pts | −0.8 pts | Morocco +5.2 pts |
| Hyperspectral imaging | China 73.1% | −3.8 pts | +1.0 pts | Italy +0.9 pts |
| Large language models | China 32.6% | +9.4 pts | −7.1 pts | Hong Kong +0.8 pts |
| Magnets and superconductors | China 39.4% | +0.6 pts | −4.0 pts | Canada +2.4 pts |
| Metamaterials | China 58.5% | 0.0 pts | −2.7 pts | Saudi Arabia +0.7 pts |
| mRNA vaccines and therapeutics | United States 31.6% | +7.3 pts | −3.9 pts | Singapore +2.4 pts |
| New antibiotics and antivirals | China 38.2% | +6.4 pts | +2.3 pts | Australia +2.4 pts |
| Nuclear fission power | China 53.0% | +13.2 pts | −3.3 pts | – |
| Nuclear fusion | United States 24.2% | +6.2 pts | −4.6 pts | France +2.3 pts |
| Optical communication | China 42.7% | +1.5 pts | −2.2 pts | Belgium +2.0 pts |
| Perovskite solar cells | China 62.5% | +7.8 pts | −2.3 pts | India +0.8 pts |
| Quantum communication | China 27.5% | +2.3 pts | −2.9 pts | Italy +4.0 pts |
| Quantum computing | United States 28.1% | −1.7 pts | −3.8 pts | United Kingdom +1.6 pts |
| Radar | China 79.6% | −3.9 pts | −1.6 pts | South Korea +3.6 pts |
| Satellite navigation | China 61.7% | +4.0 pts | +1.4 pts | Iran +3.0 pts |
| Supercapacitors | China 39.1% | −2.9 pts | +0.8 pts | India +2.0 pts |
| Synthetic biology | China 45.2% | −3.5 pts | −4.6 pts | South Korea +4.9 pts |
| Wide-bandgap semiconductors | China 46.1% | +0.5 pts | −6.9 pts | India +2.5 pts |
Change in share of the year's 10% most cited papers, in percentage points. 14 technologies with fewer than 100 top papers in a year are left out. Five-year rankings: each technology's page.
Questions
Which country gained the most ground in technology research in 2025?
Among countries other than China and the United States, India made the largest single gain, in wide-bandgap semiconductors (3.1% in 2024 to 5.6% in 2025). Italy gained in the most technologies (seven).
How many technologies did China lead in 2025?
28 of the 31 with at least 100 top papers in both years, against 26 in 2024. Its share rose by a point or more in 15 and fell by as much in 8.
How did the United States do in 2025?
It led 3 of the 31 technologies, against 5 in 2024. Its share rose by a point or more in 3 and fell by as much in 20.
Which technologies changed leader in 2025?
gene editing (United States to China) and genome sequencing (United States to China).
Why only single years, and how reliable are they?
This page compares 2025 with 2024 to show what changed most recently. A single year moves more than the five-year totals on the rest of the site, so only technologies with at least 100 top papers in each year are counted. Each year's papers are ranked against papers from the same year, so newer papers are not penalised for having had less time to be cited.