Synthetic biology is known as the frontier technology that subverts the future. Clarifying the strengths and weaknesses of synthetic biology between China and the world’s S&T powerhouses is conducive to adjusting and optimizing the scientific and technological innovation structure, meanwhile helping grasp the key fields of discipline development. We conduct topic mining and identify research hotspots based on paper data in the field of synthetic biology, generating time-series data about the development trend of S&T powerhouses’ research hot topics. Combining the grey correlation degree and Euclidean distance, this paper puts forward the correlation strength measurement index and introduces the basic idea of cross correlation method to analyze the lead-lag relationship and the time lag between China and the world’s S&T powerhouses. The research shows that the trend of research topics among various countries is closely related. A time lag phenomenon is observed that the development of synthetic biology in China is left behind compared with foreign countries. The United States, Britain, and Germany have shown relatively outstanding scientific research strength and are maintaining the leading position. The paper suggests that our country continues to improve the efficiency and quantity of research output. We should intensify our efforts in gene expression regulation and genome engineering and maintain the previous advantages of metabolic engineering research.