Top 100 Patent Applicants in 2023

TIPO’s 2023 Statistical Rankings for Patent Applications and Grants reveals that TSMC maintained its position as the top domestic patent applicant for the eighth consecutive year, filing 1,956 applications. As for foreign applicants, Samsung Electronics of the Republic of Korea moved up to the top spot for the first time, with a total of 978 applications. Furthermore, both the applications of TSMC and Samsung Electronics set record highs. With respect to overall patent grants, TSMC led the pack for domestic applications with 1,040 grants, and US-based Applied Materials was the most prolific foreign applicant with 591 grants.

TSMC ranked top domestic applicant in overall patent applications and invention patent applications for 8th straight year

For the eighth consecutive year, TSMC led the domestic applications with 1,956 cases of patent applications (+28%) in 2023. Among the top 10 applicants, TSMC, Mediatek (ranking 2nd with 544 cases) and Nanya Tech (ranking 5th with 373 cases) scaled their all-time high. In addition, Inventec (ranking 6th with 330 cases, +14%) and Delta Electronics (ranking 10th with 270 cases, +32%) hit their 10-year high and 15-year high, respectively (Table 1).

The top 100 domestic patent applicants totaled 12,922 cases (+1%) in 2023, delivering a 7th consecutive year of growth. The number of invention patent applications (9,982 cases) saw a 4% increase, mainly driven by corporations and research institutes. Despite a 1% rise in utility model applications by industries, the total filings in utility model (2,273 cases) and design patent applications (667 cases) experienced declines of 6% and 16%, respectively. This was mainly attributed to the downturn in applications from schools and research institutes (Figure 1, Figure 2).

Taiwan Cooperative Bank took lead in both overall patent applications and invention patent applications

There were six banks among the top 100 domestic patent applicants in 2023. With an all-time high of 223 cases among all domestic banks, Taiwan Cooperative Bank topped the list of patent applications for the second consecutive year and secured the top spot for bank invention patent applications (35 cases). Following closely were the MEGA International Commercial Bank (195 cases) and CTBC Bank (144 cases) (Table 3).

Among school applicants, Taipei Chengshin University of Science and Technology led in overall patent applications, while National Cheng Kung University was most active in filing invention patents

Twenty-four schools were among the top 100 domestic applicants for overall patent applications in 2023. Taipei Chengshin University of Science and Technology ranked first with 140 applications for the 4th straight year. Meanwhile, National Cheng Kung University (114 cases) claimed the first spot in school rankings for invention patent applications, followed by National Tsing Hua University (98 cases) and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (91 cases). Notably, National Chinyi University of Technology (ranking 4th with 88 cases) emerged as the leader among technology universities (Table 4).

Industrial Technology Research Institute maintained its top position for overall patent applications for 23 years in a row

Three research centers were also among the top 100 domestic applicants for overall patent applications in 2023. The Industrial Technology Research Institute placed 8th in the overall rankings with 315 applications, maintaining its top position among research institutes for the 23rd consecutive year. Following closely were the Metal Industries Research & Development Centre (101 cases) and Taiwan Textile Research Institute (42 cases), ranking 34 th and 90 th respectively (Table 5).

Samsung Electronics claimed the top spot among foreign patent applicants for the first time

On the foreign applicant front, Samsung Electronics of the Republic of Korea became the largest patent applicant with 978 applications for the first time in 2023, followed by US-based Applied Materials (779 cases) and Qualcomm (639 cases). Among the top 10 foreign applicants, Samsung Electronics, Japan-based Tokyo Electron (ranking 4th with 555 cases), Korea-based Coupang (ranking 6th with 454 cases), ASML Netherlands (ranking 7th with 309 cases), and US-based Lam Research (ranking 10th with 264 cases) all posted record high overall applications (Table 2).

The top 100 foreign patent applicants collectively filed 14,910 cases (+2%) in 2023, mainly driven by the rise in invention (13,350 cases, +2%), utility model (185 cases, +2%) and design patent applications (1,375 cases, +5%) (Figure 3).

• Publish Date : 2024-03-05
• Update : 2024-03-05
• Organization : International Legal Affairs Office
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