New data finds that South Korea ranks third in the world in terms of the number of patents applied for globally in the field of artificial intelligence(AI) semiconductors.

According to the data released by the Korean Intellectual Property Office on Tuesday, South Korea came in third after the U.S. and China in the number of such applications between 2006 and 2020. The agency produced the data together with the Center for Economic Catch-up after analyzing the industrial competitiveness of AI chips.

In particular, the data found that the U.S. was dominant in all generations of AI chips when looking at the trends in patent applications.

South Korea was found to be in a heated competition for the number two spot with China, Japan and Taiwan in terms of first-and second-generation AI semiconductors, while ranking second in terms of next-generation neuromorphic chips.

AI chips are a thousand times more efficient than existing computer memory chips as they simultaneously process large amounts of data with low power consumption.