To be fair, that only applies if you count product development, which is the overwhelming majority of China's R&D. When it comes to basic and applied research, the U.S. spends far more, and is likely to increase that even further as part of its effort to counter China.
Basic research in China averaged around 5 percent of total R&D expenditure between 2000 to 2018, while the share of applied research dropped from 17 percent to 11.1 percent. Over the same period, the US poured 17.3 percent of its R&D funding into basic research and 20.4 percent into applied research. In nominal terms, China’s basic and applied expenditure was $77.1 billion in 2018, more than that of South Korea ($34.5 billion) and Japan ($54.7 billion), but less than half that of the US ($200.5 billion).
Further, the U.S. benefits from R&D conducted in allied countries like the UK, Japan, Taiwan, etc. where companies from those countries will basically do what the US tells them to do. Not trying to dismiss China's substantial growth in this area, but complacency is not good. This is going to be one of the major areas of competition.
