Ranking of global PCT patent applications in 2023: Huawei ranks first, BOE ranks fifth

According to news on March 11, the World Intellectual Property Organization WIPO recently announced the ranking of global PCT international patent applications in 2023. The total number of global PCT patent applications in 2023 was 272,600, a year-on-year decrease of 1.8%.

Judging from the ranking of applications by country, China is still the world's largest PCT patent applicant in 2023, with a total of 69,610 PCT patent applications submitted. Although it fell by 0.6% year-on-year, it is still significantly ahead of the second-ranked United States with 55,678 (a year-on-year decrease of 5.3%). Japan (48,879 cases, a year-on-year decrease of 2.9%), South Korea (22,288 cases, a year-on-year increase of 1.2%), and Germany (16,916 cases, a year-on-year decrease of 3.2%) ranked third to fifth respectively.

Among the top 15 countries with the largest number of PCT patent applications, India and Turkey have the fastest growing PCT patent applications, with growth rates reaching 44.6% and 8.5% respectively. The Netherlands (5.8%), France (2%) and South Korea (1.2%) are the only other countries where the number of PCT applications will increase in 2023.

Judging from the ranking of applicants, Huawei ranked first in applying for 6,494 PCT patents in 2023, followed by Samsung (3,924), Qualcomm (3,410), Mitsubishi Electric (2,152), and BOE (1,988) ranking second to fifth respectively.

In addition, China's CATL ranked 8th (1,799 pieces), OPPO ranked 9th (1,766 pieces), ZTE ranked 11th (1,738 pieces), vivo ranked 13th (1,631 pieces), Xiaomi ranked 14th (1,603 pieces), and Changxin Storage ranked 14th (1,603 pieces). Ranked 22nd (954 cases), Honor ranked 30th (753 cases), Haier ranked 32nd (706 cases), Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology ranked 33rd (696 cases), Tencent Technology ranked 34th (677 cases), ByteDance ranked 46th (492 cases), etc.

Among them, CATL is the fastest growing company among the top ten applicants. The number of PCT patent applications in 2023 increased by 1,533 compared with 2022, and its ranking rose by 84 places. In comparison, Huawei, which ranks first, will have 1,195 fewer PCT patent applications in 2023 than in 2022.

Judging from the ranking of PCT patent applications by major educational institutions, the University of California in the United States is still the largest applicant, with 531 PCT patent applications in 2023. Soochow University in China ranked second (332 applications, 69th overall), followed by the University of Texas System (217 applications), Tsinghua University (209 applications) and Stanford University (180 applications). Among them, Tsinghua University has the fastest growth among the top five educational institutions, with 35 new PCT patent applications year-on-year.

Judging from the fields covered by PCT patent applications, computer technology accounts for the largest share of published PCT patent applications in 2023, accounting for 10.2%. This is followed by digital communications (9.4%), electrical machinery (7.9%), medical technology (6.7%) and pharmaceuticals (4.7%). These five areas account for approximately two-fifths of all published PCT patent applications in 2023.

In terms of growth rate, among the top ten technology fields, only four fields will achieve growth in 2023, with motors (8.8%) growing the fastest, followed by transportation (7.7%), semiconductors (5.6%) and biotechnology (3.8%). After seven consecutive years of year-on-year growth, PCT patent applications in the computer technology field fell by 3.4% in 2023. Similarly, PCT patent applications in the field of digital communications also fell by 2.1% in 2023, the first decline since 2019.

It is worth mentioning that from the perspective of 5G patent filing agencies, Huawei ranks first in the world, followed by Qualcomm, Samsung, Ericsson, and Nokia, and Apple ranks 12th.

In addition, Huawei is also a major contributor to the Wi-Fi 6 standard, contributing 281 proposals to the IEEE 802.11ax standard (Wi-Fi 6), accounting for 11.2% of all proposals, and 477 related patents, accounting for 18.2% of the total patents, ranking first among wireless equipment manufacturers.

In terms of Wi-Fi 7 patents, the NGB report shows that Huawei’s Wi-Fi 7 standard patent contribution ranks first in the world, with a total contribution of 482 items, accounting for 22.9%, ranking first in the world. Qualcomm, ranked second, accounted for 15.2%, and Intel, ranked third, accounted for 9.5%.

In addition, ZTE ranked tenth with a share of 2.1%. ZTE also previously stated on the interactive platform that it currently has more than 100 Wi-Fi 7 standard patents. OPPO ranks 18th with a share of 1%.