Bloomberg: "China Closely Chasing South Korea"... China Tightens Grip on Tech Hegemony

Despite US Restrictions, Huawei Rises to 5th Place in Patent Filings Last Year
Samsung Maintains 2nd Place

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Central IT company Huawei rose from 9th to 5th place in the number of U.S. patents obtained last year within a year.

Samsung Electronics maintained its 2nd place.

According to a report by Bloomberg citing the patent analysis platform IFI Claims on the 10th (local time), Huawei obtained 2,770 patents in the U.S. last year.

This achievement is remarkable, especially as the company has faced difficulties in the smartphone and telecommunications equipment businesses due to U.S. government sanctions.

IBM ranked 1st with 8,682 patents, Samsung Electronics 2nd with 6,366, Japan's Canon 3rd with 3,021, and Taiwan's TSMC 4th with 2,798 patents.

LG Electronics dropped one place to 8th with 2,487 patents.

Bloomberg analyzed that "Huawei's jump from 9th to 5th was partly due to a 7% decrease in patent acquisitions by other companies."

In fact, IBM and Canon saw their patent acquisitions decrease by more than 5% each, Samsung Electronics by 1%, and LG Electronics by as much as 12%.

The presence of Chinese companies is particularly prominent in the global patent counts.

While Samsung Electronics maintained its position as the global leader in cumulative patent holdings, Chinese companies and institutions, including Huawei and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, swept ranks 2 through 7. IBM ranked 8th.

Mike Bakeport, CEO of IFI Claims, said, "Chinese companies are establishing themselves as 'major players' everywhere," adding, "The talk that China will dominate the world is beginning to become a reality."

Among the 327,329 patents registered in the U.S. last year, American companies accounted for less than half.

Bloomberg pointed out, "China ranked 4th but is chasing 3rd-ranked South Korea."

An analysis of patent applications over the past five years showed that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning were the most active fields of innovation, with IBM, Samsung, Google, Intel, and Microsoft (MS) leading.

Telemedicine, new seed varieties, and supply chain logistics are also rapidly growing patent fields.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.