The quantum computing development competition between the top two largest economies in the world is expected to drive up the market value to $5 billion by 2025, GlobalData says. The firm noted the U.S. is about five years ahead of China, but China is catching up quickly.

“Quantum computing has become the latest battleground between the U.S. and China,” GlobalData associate analyst Benjamin Chin said in a statement. “Both countries want to claim quantum supremacy, not only as a matter of national pride but also because of the financial, industrial, scientific, and military advantages quantum computing can offer.”

GlobalData’s patent analytics database showed that the U.S.- based tech organizations are leading the patent number in quantum computing. The top three companies that filed the most patents are IBM (1,885 total publications), Alphabet (1,000), and Northrop Grumman (623).

The latest move from IBM is that it unveiled its most powerful quantum processor to date with 433 qubits and its latest modular quantum computing system this week.

On top of the progress from the private sector, the U.S. government has been making a stride to support the development. The federal government has committed $3 billion in funding for quantum projects, such as the $1.2 billion National Quantum Computing initiative, according to GlobalData.

“In addition, the U.S. government almost certainly conducts quantum projects in secret through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the National Security Agency (NSA),” the report wrote.

Another recent legislative effort to enhance quantum capabilities and further hinder China is the recently-passed U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, which already aided quantum computing manufacturing to ramp up in the country.

Passed in August this year, the act is a detailed funding package to support the country’s quantum computing initiatives, as well as workforce and infrastructure, according to the report.

It also includes measures aiming to cut off China’s access to U.S.-made technology, which “represents an escalation in the growing tech war between the U.S. and China,” GlobalData analysts noted, compounding some of the recent restrictions preventing semiconductor-manufacturing equipment export from the U.S. to China.

The Chinese government is also pumping money into quantum computing development including a $10 billion investment to construct the National Laboratory for Quantum Information Science, according to GlobalData.

On the private side, Alibaba is leading the efforts for quantum computing who invested $15 billion in the DAMO Science and Technology Research Center.

“China has already established itself as a world leader in secure quantum satellite communications. Moreover, thanks to its autocratic economic model, it can pool resources from institutions, corporations, and the government,” Chin noted. “This gives China a distinct advantage as it can work collectively to achieve a single aim – quantum supremacy.”

“In contrast, U.S. tech companies compete against each other to develop quantum computers. It is only a matter of time before China and the U.S. reach technical parity in quantum computing,” he added.