Korea's European Patent Applications Hit Record High Last Year... Samsung 2nd, LG 3rd

Published 05 Apr.2022 14:56(KST)

Samsung Falls to 2nd Place Behind China's Huawei

Samsung Electronics achieved a record high performance with annual sales exceeding 279 trillion won. Samsung Electronics announced on the 7th that, based on its preliminary consolidated results for last year, sales amounted to 279.04 trillion won, and operating profit reached 51.57 trillion won. The photo shows the Samsung Electronics Seocho building. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-ho Kim] Last year, South Korea set a record for the highest number of patent applications filed with the European Patent Office (EPO). However, Samsung, which had maintained the top position, was pushed to second place by China's Huawei.

According to the '2021 Patent Index' report published by the EPO on the 5th, Samsung filed a total of 3,439 patents in Europe last year. In contrast, Huawei filed 3,544 patents, ranking first in EPO patent applications last year. LG ranked third with 2,422 applications.

In 2020, Samsung was first with 3,276 patent applications, surpassing Huawei's 3,113. However, last year Huawei increased its patent applications by more than 300, overtaking Samsung. LG maintained its third place both in 2020 and last year.

The total number of European patent applications last year was 188,600, marking a 4.5% increase from the previous year. The digital communications sector accounted for the largest share at 8.2%, followed by medical technology (8.1%), computer technology (7.8%), and electronic devices (6.4%).

Korean companies and research institutions, including Samsung and LG, filed a total of 9,394 patent applications, an increase of 310 from the previous year, setting a new record for the highest number of applications for the second consecutive year. Among patents filed from Korea, the digital communications sector accounted for 12.1% of the total, the largest share. This was followed by electronic devices (11.9%), computer technology (10.4%), and semiconductors (7.0%).

Following Samsung and LG, the rankings were KT&G (233 applications), POSCO (168), SK (138), Hyundai (93), and Hyundai Motor Company (84).