중국 상장기업의 해외 특허 출원과 국제 성과: 지식자산과 AI 지향성 효과를 중심으로

The study analyzes the effect of overseas patent application intensity on the international performance (foreign sales) of Chinese listed firms in an environment of intensifying U.S.–China geopolitical tensions, and tests the moderating roles of firms’ static knowledge assets (citation-weighted patent stock) and dynamic digital capabilities (AI orientation: intensity of AI investment). By combining CSMAR financial and patent data with CNRDS citation data, the study constructs a firm–year panel of Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share listed firms from 2013 to 2023 (1,442 firms, 5,096 observations) and tests the hypotheses using fixed-effects panel models. The results show that overseas patent application intensity has a significant positive effect on foreign sales; this performance effect of overseas patents is stronger for firms with higher levels of knowledge assets, and the same strengthening effect is also observed for firms with higher AI orientation. These findings suggest that overseas patents can function not merely as instruments of legal protection but also as signals that enhance credibility and legitimacy in foreign markets, and that the performance effects of overseas patents are contingent on firms’ knowledge bases and their levels of digital and AI capabilities.