For the first time since 1993, IBM is not at the top of the list of companies that received patents for new inventions and innovations in the United States. Samsung holds the new crown with 6,248 patents issued in 2022, while IBM is second with 4,389 patents.
That's a staggering 49% drop from the 8,681 patents IBM received in 2021.
IFI Claims Patent Services, the London office of digital research firm Digital Science, says the shift at the top of the patent rankings reflects a broader shift in innovation from the US to Asia.
"If you look at only the 50 largest companies, the IFI data shows that there has been a shift from West to East," the company said in a press release. In addition to Samsung's growth, Asian companies on the list received 14% more patents than Western countries in 2022 (41,055 vs. 35,365). This is only 1% more than in Asia in 2021. They have obtained 32,130 patents from Japan, China and South Korea alone. American companies.
Samsung's arch-rival Apple received 2,285 patents, down 10% year-on-year, while Amazon and Google received 1,863 and 1,548 patents, respectively.
Another US giant whose patents have declined significantly is Microsoft. The Redmond-based software company received 1,815 patents in 2022, down 25% from 2,417 in 2021.
Top 20 patent winners of 2022
Samsung: 6248
IBM: 4398
Taiwan Semiconductor: 3,024
Huawei: 2836
Run: 2694
LG: 2641
Qualcomm: 2,625
Intel: 2418
Apple: 2285
Toyota: 2214
BOE Technology Group: 2,795
Samsung screen: 2106
Micron Technology: 1920
Amazon: 1863
Microsoft: 1815
Google: 1548
Hyundai: 1436
Sony: 1397
Ericsson: 1397
Honda: 1346
IBM's declining number of patents reflects a shift in corporate strategy toward open source software, IFI notes. In fact, 2022 marked the third year in a row that overall patent filings have declined - coinciding with the Covid pandemic - although patent applications rose 2%, continuing a downward trend - a five-year increase.
But there is a gap between applications and grants.
Mike Baycroft, CEO of IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, said: "Continued growth in applications is driving innovation." "First it's an application, 12 to 18 months later the application is published, then 18 months later the grant is awarded, so we expect to see recovery from COVID over the next few years."
There is also a large backlog of 700,000 pending patent applications at the USPTO.
While American companies lead every country in the number of patents granted, 56% of all patents are granted to foreign companies, a fact the Institute of International Finance calls "staggering." American companies received 142,703 patents, three times more than its nearest national competitor, Japan. Japanese companies received 46,504 patents, Chinese companies received 24,538, a 19% increase from 2021, South Korean companies received 22,359 patents, and German companies received 14,746 patents.
Hot technology in patents
Self-driving cars are currently a patent class with a CAGR of 64.3% between 2018 and 2022. Other hot categories include computing, drilling technology and, surprisingly, electronic smoking devices.
The ten fastest growing technology areas through patent grants are:
Autonomous Cars
Electrical digital computing
Oil/Gas/Water Drilling Technologies
Computing based on biological models
Electric smoking devices
quantum computer
cigarettes
3D culture (biological methods for studying cells)
machine learning
breathing masks
"We haven't seen the transition to renewable energy, and some of the fast-growing technology subfields are focused on improving traditional fossil fuel sources and using them more efficiently," Baycroft said.
More detailed reports on patent applications, grants and trends are available on the IFI website.
Information technologies for professionals 2022. Symposium 6
