Morning Market Tidbits: The US and China are clear leaders in the AI race, but who is next?

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Morning Market Tidbits: The US and China are clear leaders in the AI race, but who is next?

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Morning Market Tidbits

The US and China are clear leaders in the

AI race, but who is next?

Key takeaways 17 July 2026

Economics• The US and China are clear leaders in the AI race, but other countries are also well

United States

positioned to become AI beneficiaries.

• We examine short-term and long-term potential across countries, showcasing Korea, Mai Doan

CEE Economist

UAE, Canada, France as likely to benefit. MLI (UK)

mai.doan@bofa.com

• Today's data: import prices, industrial production, and Univ. of Michigan consumer

Claudio Irigoyen

sentiment. Global Economist

BofAS

claudio.irigoyen@bofa.com

What Matters Today: US and China are well ahead of ROW in AI diffusion, but the next Global Economics Team

contenders could include South Korea, UAE, Canada, France, among others BofAS

AI Diffusion vs Structural readiness scores for AI See Team Page for List of Analysts

125 RoW: Rest of World

120 USA

115 FRA

110 SGP

105 GBR KORARE CHN Readiness100

95 High-income

90 IND Upper-middle-income

85 Structural Lower-middle-income 80

85 95 105 115 125 135 145 155

Diffusion Score

Notes: Scores in this chart are for sample including the US and China. Scores should be read as grouped signals, not precise rankings.

Small differences across countries should not be interpreted as definitive rank gaps. Countries are labelled according to ISO-3 code and

classified by income according to the World Bank. See Methodology and Appendix for more details. ROW: Rest of the World.

Source: BofA Global Research estimates

BofA GLOBAL RESEARCH

AI marathon with short- and long-term beneficiaries

In a marathon, some runners break away from the pack early and establish a lead, while