Prime Patenting Powerhouses of 2024

This text is finest seen on desktop.

In 2006, IEEE Spectrumranked patenting powerhouses in our first annual patent survey. The survey, carried out by the analysis agency 1790 Analytics, examined the quantity and affect of U.S. patents generated by greater than 1,000 organizations. Semiconductor producer Micron Know-how got here out on high on the time, with IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, and Broadcom rounding out the highest 5.

Almost 20 years later, each firm on the highest 10 checklist has been usurped. As soon as mighty corporations have fallen within the ranks, others have come and gone, and the highest spots are largely stuffed by at this time’s Massive Tech corporations. Instead of semiconductors and pc techniques, the highest classes on this 12 months’s scorecard are all about Web companies—the class labeled “Telecom and Web”—and shopper electronics.

Digging into the information reveals Amazon’s would possibly, the hidden energy of subsidiaries, and which international locations are producing U.S. patents—it’s not simply the United States. You’ll be able to discover all of it for your self within the interactive graphic beneath. Merely click on on a class to see which corporations produced essentially the most highly effective patent portfolios in 2024.

The rankings are based mostly on Pipeline Energy, a metric calculated by 1790 Analytics that mixes a number of parts of a company’s patent portfolio into one quantity. Along with the variety of patents granted in a given 12 months, this metric takes under consideration 4 variables representing the standard and influence of these patents. (Extra particulars on the calculations are beneath within the Methodology part.)

Amazon Tops the Listing

At a look, it’s clear that Amazon leads with the very best patent energy. The tech big has produced a extra influential patent portfolio than whole business classes.

Nonetheless, Amazon didn’t produce the biggest quantity of patents in 2024. That achievement goes to Samsung; with greater than 9,000 patents, the electronics firm was granted greater than twice the quantity produced by the second most prolific firm, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC).

In the meantime, Amazon ranked twentieth when it comes to the uncooked variety of patents. So how does it have the biggest energy? In brief, as a result of its patents are usually cited extra regularly, and by a wide range of different patents. Equally, Snap, the corporate that owns Snapchat and Bitmoji, ranks above extra frequent filers Qualcomm and Google, regardless of being granted simply 770 patents final 12 months.

Hidden Energy in Subsidiaries

A number of corporations have a higher patent energy than is instantly seen, when you think about their subsidiaries. For instance, Alphabet is categorized as a conglomerate with a patent energy of about 4,056. But it surely has two subsidiaries: Google and Waymo, each within the Telecom and Web class. Including in its subsidiaries, Alphabet’s patent energy would roughly double, attaining a rating increased than these of all the opposite conglomerates mixed.

Protection contractor RTX (previously Raytheon) has essentially the most subsidiaries included within the knowledge assortment. Seven corporations listed within the Aerospace class are all owned by RTX, along with RTX itself. Including their mixed patent energy to RTX’s accounts for greater than two-thirds of the mixed patent energy of all Aerospace corporations. RTX is the one firm with greater than two subsidiaries included within the survey. Sony, Johnson & Johnson, and GE Vernova all have two every, and several other different corporations have one.

In Shopper Electronics, Apple leads the pack by a big margin, with about 40 p.c of the class’s patent energy. Samsung has patents filed each below its major firm, Samsung Electronics, and a subsidiary that focuses on show know-how. These two corporations take the second and third place within the class. However even grouped collectively, their mixed patent energy is effectively behind Apple’s.

Western Digital’s Sandisk Corp, within the Laptop Peripherals class, is the subsidiary with the biggest patent energy for 2024. Sandisk has a rating of about 5,087, greater than triple that of its father or mother firm. In actual fact, Sandisk’s successes in flash storage led to its launch as an unbiased public firm in February of 2025.

Splunk, owned by Cisco, tops the Laptop Software program class, beating out Microsoft, Oracle, and Intuit. This firm focuses on gathering and organizing massive quantities of machine-generated knowledge. Whereas Splunk is much less of a family title than Microsoft, its analysis into managing knowledge generated by AI has helped launch it to the highest of its class.

General, the variety of AI patents filed has grown over the previous few years, in response to 1790 Analytics. Though many of those had been submitted by organizations within the Laptop Software program class, some AI powerhouses fall below different classes, like Conglomerates.

Which International locations Are Producing U.S. Patents?

The businesses represented right here embody solely these with at the least 25 patents granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Workplace in 2024. Out of 247 organizations that meet this requirement, 148 had been from the USA. So the place else are corporations submitting U.S. patents from?

Japan is available in second place, with 24 corporations. These corporations span a variety of classes, together with Shopper Electronics, Laptop Peripherals, and Semiconductors. The Japanese firm with the very best patent energy is Semiconductor Vitality Laboratory, taking the highest spot in its class.

After Japan, Germany and South Korea are tied with 9 corporations every, and Taiwan has eight listed. The South Korean corporations are practically all within the Shopper Electronics or Automotive and Transportation classes, the Taiwanese corporations are principally in Laptop Peripherals, and the German corporations span a wider vary of classes. Following these, France and China each have seven corporations listed, and lots of extra international locations have one or two corporations listed.

Massive Names, Small Patent Energy

Patent energy is however one measure of an organization’s influence. Some well-known corporations have surprisingly small patent energy, in comparison with their cultural or market affect. Microsoft, for instance, ranks thirty first in patent energy, regardless of being probably the most invaluable corporations based mostly on
market capitalization.

Meta additionally falls surprisingly low, contemplating the corporate’s hefty analysis and growth price range. In 2024, the social media mammoth spent US $43 billion, an quantity
surpassed solely by Alphabet in a single survey. (Notably, the survey omitted Amazon as a result of it doesn’t report R&D bills as a separate line merchandise. Amazon’s R&D spending probably exceeds that of Alphabet.)

Wanting on the energy of an organization’s patent portfolio doesn’t substitute these different metrics, nevertheless it does present one other view of a company’s influence. Amazon, Apple, Snap, Samsung, and Qualcomm, in that order, are 2024’s victors. What corporations will rise to the highest in 2025?