2026-01-14 11:38 United Daily News
[Reporter Lin Chen-yi / Instant Report]
The global authoritative patent service organization IFI Claims has released its list of the top 50 companies by U.S. patent grants in 2025. The data show that U.S. patent activity continued its multi-year decline, with both patent applications and grants decreasing. The report noted that, “for the third consecutive year, the main story of corporate innovation has been the rapid growth of investment in artificial intelligence.” The top three companies remain the same as in 2024: Samsung, TSMC, and Qualcomm. Huawei, with 3,052 granted patents, rose to fourth place, surpassing Apple, which ranked sixth. BOE Technology Group ranked 13th.
IFI Claims tracks data from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patent-granting authorities worldwide. IFI transforms its world-leading data into annual rankings of the fastest-growing U.S. technologies and the top patent holders.
According to Fast Technology, by country, the U.S. had 393,344 patent applications in 2025, down 8.6% from 2024; patent grants totaled 323,272, a slight decrease of 0.2%. The U.S., Japan, and China remain the countries receiving the most U.S. patents, while Taiwan saw the highest growth rate, exceeding 12%.
Among the top 50 companies, Samsung Electronics led with 7,054 granted patents, TSMC ranked second with 4,194, and Qualcomm was third. Huawei, with 3,052 patents, rose to fourth place, surpassing Apple, which ranked sixth.
Previously, Apple had led Huawei in 2024, but in the 2025 ranking, Apple received 2,722 granted patents, down 11.6% from 3,082 in 2024, causing its ranking to fall to sixth place.
Regarding R&D investment, Huawei has continuously strengthened its technological research and development. According to Huawei’s 2025 semi-annual report, its R&D spending in the first half of 2025 reached RMB 96.95 billion, up 9.04% year-on-year, accounting for 22.7% of revenue.
Sustained high-intensity R&D investment has also laid the foundation for Huawei’s patent accumulation. Huawei’s 2024 annual report shows that over the past ten years, its cumulative R&D expenditure reached RMB 1.2 trillion. As of the end of 2024, Huawei had 113,000 R&D personnel, accounting for 54.1% of total employees, and held over 150,000 globally valid patents.
BOE Technology Group ranked 13th on the U.S. patent grants list and has remained in the global top 20 for eight consecutive years, being the only mainland Chinese display panel company in the top 20.
BOE stated that as of the end of 2025, it had filed over 100,000 independent patent applications, with invention patents consistently accounting for over 90% of annual new filings. Overseas patents accounted for more than 33%, and the patent portfolio covers the U.S., Europe, Japan, South Korea, and other regions.
At the same time, BOE has hosted or participated in the formulation and revision of 469 domestic and international technical standards, reflecting its transition from a leader in technological innovation to a standard-setter in the industry. BOE stated that in the field of flexible displays, it is currently the only company worldwide to have mass-produced Tandem OLED technology in high-end flagship smartphones and was the first to apply LTPO technology at scale in multiple high-end flagship models.