According to TIPO’s 2021 Statistical Rankings for Patent Applications and Grants, TSMC was the top domestic applicant for invention, utility model, and design patents, with 1,950 applications filed. The company has held on to its lead for the sixth consecutive year now. As for foreign applicants, Qualcomm claimed the top spot for the second year in a row, having filed a total of 845 applications. With respect to the number of patents granted for all three patent types, TSMC led the pack for domestic applications (1,053 patents granted), and Applied Materials was the most successful foreign applicant (492 patents granted). Invention patent applications by domestic corporations and research institutions of the top 100 went up by 17% and 11% respectively.

TSMC is top domestic applicant for the sixth year in a row

As regards domestic applicants, TSMC has consistently filed the most applications since 2016. In 2021, that number surged by 78% to 1,950 cases, followed by AU Optronics (471 cases). Realtek Semiconductor (442 cases) and Nanya Tech (290 cases) each filed their highest number of applications ever, coming in fourth and sixth, respectively. Delta Electronics moved back into top 10 with 205 applications (+18%) (Table 1).

The top 100 domestic patent applicants filed 12,234 cases in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 8%. This is mainly driven by a 13% rise in the number of invention patent applications (share of 75%), which came from corporations (+17%) and research institutions (+11%). The filings in design patent applications also grew by 1%. However, the filings in utility model patent applications fell by 7%, mainly due to a decrease of 20% in school applicants (Figure 1, Figure 2).

Six banks among top 100 domestic applicants – MEGA International Commercial Bank takes lead; Hua Nan Bank applies for the most invention patents

There were six banks among the top 100 domestic patent applicants in 2021. MEGA International Commercial Bank (165 cases) headed the list of patent applications, followed by CTBC Bank (155 cases) and Taiwan Cooperative Bank (144 cases). All the top 3 domestic banks marked a growth of 53% - 85%. For a second consecutive year, Hua Nan Bank (46 cases) remained in the top position for bank invention patent applications (Table 3).

Among school applicants, Taipei City University of Science and Technology leads in overall patent applications, while National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University is most active in invention patents

Twenty-eight schools were among the top 100 domestic applicants for overall patents. The Taipei City University of Science and Technology ranked first with 170 applications. Meanwhile, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (135 cases) claimed first place in school rankings for invention patent applications. This is followed by National Cheng Kung University (102 cases), National Taiwan University (86 cases) and National Tsing Hua University (86 cases) (Table 4).

Industrial Technology Research Institute remains in top position for invention patent applications filed by research institutions

Five research centers were also among the top 100 domestic applicants for patents of any type. Placing fifth in the overall rankings was the Industrial Technology Research Institute with 404 applications. Behind it was the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (89 cases) (Table 5).

Qualcomm heads foreign patent applicants for a second consecutive year

As for the top 10 foreign applicants, Qualcomm remained at the top with 845 patent applications, marking an increase of 17%. Altogether, there were four semiconductor equipment manufacturers in the top ten: Applied Materials (793 cases), Tokyo Electron (477 cases), and DISCO (225 cases) came in second, fifth and tenth, respectively. In addition, ASML (265 cases) filed its highest number of applications and moved up to number eight. Samsung Electronics ranked fourth with 520 cases, marking the highest growth rate of 98% among the top 10 (Table 2).

The top 100 foreign patent applicants filed 14,149 cases (+5%) in 2021, of which invention patent applications accounted for 87%. The filings in invention patent applications rose by 5%, while utility model and design patent applications also grew by 3% and 6% respectively (Figure 3).

• Publish Date : 2022-02-22
• Update : 2022-02-22
• Organization : International Legal Affairs Office
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