Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 12, 2025

Chinese companies held the strongest foothold in global innovation, commanding seven of the Top 10 positions in the 2025 IFI Global 250, published today.

State Grid Corp of China controls the highest number of active families around the globe, with Chinese Academy of Sciences and Samsung coming in second and third, respectively. Two Japanese companies appear high on the list: Canon and Panasonic.

Although not one earned a Top 10 spot, 45 U.S. companies made the list placing America third behind Japan and China. U.S. firms on the list include IBM, at 20, with more than 38,000 active patent families, followed by Microsoft (32), Qualcomm (34) and RTX (37). Japanese companies hold 75 spots on the list, or 30%. China is close behind at 29% or 72 companies, which comprises the most inventions held by a single country.

“Quantifying active patent families at the highest level of ownership gives investors a better sense of the overall patent portfolio and the company’s current technological standing,” says Lily Iacurci, Head of Marketing at IFI. “The number of active patent families sheds more light on ‘intangible assets’ than the company balance sheet currently provides.”

These are some of the conclusions from the latest analysis by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, the world’s most trusted patent data provider. This analysis can be found in IFI’s Global 250 patent ranking. An overview of the Global Trends and Insights also appears on IFI’s website.

The 2025 Global 250 is a measurement of total active patent families owned by a company as of July. “Family” signifies a single invention; it is a term used to represent a set of related patent documents held around the world to protect one advancement. To compile this data, IFI looks collectively at 106 patent jurisdictions globally.

IFI’s Global 250 captures a snapshot of patents at a particular point in time to showcase the collection of active inventions in a corporate portfolio. IFI includes only active patents (patents that have not yet expired) and utilizes its proprietary Names Service and Ultimate Owner methodology of mapping patent-holding organizations to corporate owners and parent companies. As a result, the Global 250 consolidates patents from all subsidiaries of an organization into a single parent entry.

Patent activity provides valuable insight into companies’ R&D activity for researchers, analysts, and investors. Often the true value of a company lies with its intellectual properties, so examining patent assets is a key tool in gauging the intangible assets of publicly traded companies. It speaks to productivity, technological efficiency, and IP strategy, and frequently reveals technology trends and the competitive landscape within various industries.

About IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services uses a proprietary data architecture to produce the industry’s most accurate global patent database. The CLAIMS Direct platform allows for the easy integration of applications, other data sets, and analysis software. IFI CLAIMS is part of Digital Science, a digital research technology company based in London. For more information, visit www.ificlaims.com and follow IFI on LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands—Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Symplectic, and Writefull—we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X, or on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts

For media inquiries and interviews, please contact Lily Iacurci, Head of Marketing, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services: lily.iacurci@ificlaims.com

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

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2024 Rankings Showcase Acceleration of R&D Pursuits: Waste Mitigation Inventions Flourished Last Year. Creating Non-Traditional Protein and Manipulating RNA Viruses Also Appear on the Top 10 Fastest Growing Technologies, According to Annual Patent Study by IFI CLAIMS

New Haven, Conn., Jan. 14, 2025—After four years of decline, U.S. patent grants headed upward, rising 3.8 percent from calendar year 2023 to 324,043 and Samsung retained the top spot for the third year in a row, according to IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, the world’s most trusted patent data source.

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services is a Digital Science company that compiles and tracks data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patent-issuing agencies around the globe. IFI translates its world-leading data into an annual U.S. Top 50 and Top 10 Fastest Growing Technologies patent ranking, providing valuable insights into companies’ R&D activity.

In addition to grants being up, U.S. patent applications were at an all-time high, up 3 percent from 418,111 in 2023 to 430,625 in 2024, an indicator the overall U.S. innovation economy is stronger than ever.

This year, contract chip maker TSMC stepped into second place, ahead of Qualcomm, which moved down to third—according to IFI’s 2024 U.S. Top 50 Ranking. Apple and Huawei rounded out the top five, all ahead of IBM, which slipped to eighth place. IBM previously held the top spot for 29 consecutive years, but the company adopted a more selective patenting strategy and was unseated by Samsung two years ago.

“It’s good to see patent grants heading in the right direction again,” said Ronald Kratz, CEO of IFI CLAIMS Patent Services. “Grants had been sinking since the start of the pandemic, likely because of the backlog of unexamined patents piling up. The USPTO has been hiring more examiners to deal with the accumulation, so it looks like that’s having a positive effect.” The USPTO backlog grew to 813,000 unexamined applications in 2024, up from 750,000 in 2023. Before COVID, the buildup was 540,000.

Summing up the U.S. Top 50 rankings

Samsung stayed on top and managed to grow its patent count year over year, from 6,165 in 2023 to 6,377 in 2024, a rise of 3 percent. In fact, of all patents granted in the U.S. last year, Samsung took nearly 2 percent of the pie. TSMC climbed a rung in the ranking, bringing in 3,989 patents compared to 3,687 in 2023, an improvement of 8 percent. Qualcomm, last year’s previous second place finisher, slipped a notch this year with an 11 percent decline in grants from 3,854 to 3,422. Apple scaled three places, landing in fourth this year. Google also climbed three spots to tenth place. Meanwhile, the much-followed patent stalwart IBM ticked down another four spots in 2024 but remains in the top 10.

The biggest gainers on the Top 50 all hail from Asia: Changxin Memory Technologies (+57 places), Tencent (+54), and LG Energy (+37). As for the so-called Magnificent Seven, the tech companies Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla, which continued their magnificent stock run in 2024, only the first four had enough patents to make the Top 50 and the latter three were conspicuously absent.

U.S. companies granted fewer patents

Although American companies won the highest number of patents (143,382), the majority of U.S. patents (56 percent) were earned by firms outside of the U.S.: Japanese companies were awarded 43,364 patents, placing the country in second place, followed by China (28,258), South Korea (24,115), and Germany (14,044). Of the top 10 countries in patents granted, eight saw their numbers tick up. China, by far, rose the most: 32 percent more than 2023; Switzerland saw the second highest surge in growth, up 21 percent. Only the U.S. and Taiwan dropped, by 4 percent and 5 percent respectively.

Fastest Growing Technologies don’t go to waste

IFI’s Top 10 Fastest Growing Technologies ranking is based on patent applications—a better proxy than grants for technologies that are currently progressing because the lag time is significantly shorter.

The fastest growing technology in 2024 is operating or servicing cells, which rose more than 27 percent from 2020-2024, a technology that is related to electrolytic methods. This is the first year this technology has appeared on the list. But the most remarkable aspect of this year’s ranking is that three of the Top 10 are taken up by technologies that seek to diminish waste: reclaiming non-ferrous metals (CAGR 26.2 percent), recovery of waste materials (CAGR 26.1 percent), and destroying solid waste (CAGR 17.7 percent). Clearly, companies inventing in these areas believe there are future profits to be had for innovations that make the world more sustainable. Another technology along the theme of sustainability that is growing quickly: working up protein from non-traditional sources (CAGR: 22.6 percent), a necessity as the global population grows.

“Despite all the market’s attention on AI, we saw technologies like machine learning, which underpins artificial intelligence, slope downward,” said Kratz. “But we’re not surprised by that. Those were the fast growers that preceded the present AI bonanza and have been on our list in the years leading up to it. That’s why investors should be paying attention to growing patent classes. It helps them get ahead of the curve.”

To view the report, visit the 2024 Top 10 Fastest Growing Technologies.

Patent activity provides valuable insight into companies’ R&D activity for researchers, analysts, and investors. It speaks to productivity, technological efficiency and IP strategy, and frequently reveals technology trends and the competitive landscape within various industries. Often the true value of a company lies with its intellectual properties, so examining patent assets is a key tool in gauging the intangible assets of publicly traded companies.

To create your own analysis, visit the IFI CLAIMS Live 1000, a free tool which uses data from the top 1000 companies that received patents across multiple countries and patent jurisdictions. The tool shows live data and offers interactive features that allow users to create and sort their own lists using a variety of filters.

About IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services uses proprietary data architecture to produce the industry’s most accurate patent database. The CLAIMS Direct platform allows for the easy integration of applications, other data sets, and analysis software. Headquartered in New Haven, Conn., with a satellite office in Barcelona, Spain, IFI CLAIMS is part of Digital Science, a digital research technology company based in London. For more information, visit www.ificlaims.com and follow IFI on LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Scismic, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow Digital Science on Bluesky, on X or on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts

For media inquiries and interviews, please contact Lily Iacurci, Marketing Manager, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services: lily.iacurci@ificlaims.com

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Samsung takes top spot in U.S. patents for third year running while TSMC rises into second place; after four-year falloff, grants increase nearly 4% appeared first on Digital Science.

Patent analysis shows how world leader in microchips has risen to the top in a constrained global market

Monday 23 September 2024

A new analysis of semiconductor patents released today by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services helps to explain why the recently embattled Nvidia is a world leader in AI microchips, despite only appearing 9th on the list of top companies for the number of AI chip patents.

Key points:

• The analysis by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services – a Digital Science company and the patent industry’s most trusted data provider – shows that the Top 5 companies in the US for the number of AI chip patents are: IBM, Samsung, Intel, Google and Microsoft, with IBM way out in front.
• However, while Nvidia is currently 9th among the Top 10 in the US for the number of AI chip patents, Nvidia has high-value patents in this technology, emphasizing quality over quantity.
• Nvidia is number 1 for “forward citations” in AI chip patents, meaning the number of times its patents are cited by other patent applicants as being critical to their work. Among Nvidia’s high-value patents are those on safety systems for autonomous vehicles, and training and testing autonomous machines, both of which are highly cited by other patents.
• IFI CLAIMS has found that Nvidia is active in areas such as deep learning, image data generation, video and pattern recognition, and control units.
• IFI’s report says: “All of these innovations are less about the hardware of semiconductors… and more about the software side of the technology that goes into the design of the company’s graphical processing units (GPUs) and associated software (CUDA). Both are key components for developers to advance their AI, which is why Nvidia’s offerings are so indispensable right now.”
• Ron Kratz, CEO of IFI CLAIMS, says: “Patents hold important clues that can help investors decide whether or not a company deserves a place in the investment portfolio. Our analysis shows that some companies’ patent portfolios – such as in this case, Nvidia – need to be judged from several angles, leading to deeper insights.”
• Additional observation from the report: With seemingly every company racing to adopt ChatGPT-like generative AI models, the sophistication involved with manufacturing the necessary chips should give rise to more patents being granted in the future.

See the full analysis at the IFI CLAIMS website: https://www.ificlaims.com/news/view/semiconductors.htm

About IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services uses a proprietary data architecture to produce the industry’s most accurate patent database. The CLAIMS Direct platform allows for the easy integration of applications, other data sets, and analysis software. Headquartered in New Haven, Conn., with a satellite office in Barcelona, Spain, IFI CLAIMS is part of Digital Science, a digital research technology company based in London. For more information, visit www.ificlaims.com and follow IFI on LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, metaphacts, OntoChem, Overleaf, ReadCube, Scismic, Symplectic, and Writefull – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on X or on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts

For media inquiries and interviews, please contact Lily Iacurci, Marketing Manager, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services: lily.iacurci@ificlaims.com

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Nvidia is going for quality not quantity with AI chip patents appeared first on Digital Science.

Thursday 20 June 2024

New analysis released today from a world leader in patent data could suggest a new strategy for US retail giant Walmart from its purchase of smart television maker Vizio for a reported $2.3 billion.

Key points:

• The analysis by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services – a Digital Science company – shows Walmart is not only buying Vizio’s TVs and other entertainment equipment, it’s also receiving a “starter pack” of highly useful intellectual property, such as data monitoring and analysis patents – technology that would enable Walmart to gather and measure viewer data.
• Ron Kratz, CEO of IFI CLAIMS, says: “We look at the business world through the lens of patent data. In the case of Walmart acquiring Vizio, the patent documents yielded some compelling insights.”
• IFI CLAIMS says Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio brings with it a portfolio of patents in interactive television and video on demand (VOD), image and video recognition, and other technological advances.
• The report says over the past decade, Vizio has sustained a focus on technologies that compile the end-user’s data and determine trends based on file logs of viewer selections.
• IFI’s report says: “All of this is further confirmation that Vizio is simply a data and advertising company using television as its mode of carrying its main value proposition. Walmart can certainly sell Vizio’s televisions and soundbars and has the world-class distribution network to do so. But the acquisition is about gathering information and using it to push advertisements. And Vizio’s patents affirm its value in this arena.”

See the full analysis at the IFI CLAIMS website: https://www.ificlaims.com/news/view/walmart-vizio.htm

About IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services uses a proprietary data architecture to produce the industry’s most accurate patent database. The CLAIMS Direct platform allows for the easy integration of applications, other data sets, and analysis software. Headquartered in New Haven, Conn., with a satellite office in Barcelona, Spain, IFI CLAIMS is part of Digital Science, a digital research technology company based in London. For more information, visit www.ificlaims.com and follow IFI on LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, ReadCube, Symplectic, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, Overleaf, Writefull, OntoChem, Scismic and metaphacts – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on X or on LinkedIn.

Media Contacts

For media inquiries and interviews, please contact Lily Iacurci, Marketing Manager, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services: lily.iacurci@ificlaims.com

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post Has Walmart switched on to Vizio for smart TV viewer data? appeared first on Digital Science.

Tuesday 6 February 2024

New Haven, Conn., Feb. 6, 2024—US commercial giants IBM, Google and Microsoft lead the way as the companies with the most patent applications in Generative AI (GenAI), with other major firms such as Samsung, Adobe and Intel also in the Top 10. However, the creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI, is way down the list with fewer than five patents, according to the new report ‘IFI Insights: Opening the Patent Picture on Generative AI’. 

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services – a world leader in tracking patent application and grant data – is a Digital Science company that compiles and tracks data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and other patent-issuing agencies around the globe.

The report shows that GenAI patents make up around 22% of all patents in AI, which is itself growing, with over half a million patents in this area in the last five years. IBM is the leading company in this space, with over 1,500 patent applications in 2023 – this is a third more than second place Google and more than double the number of Microsoft (see figure below). IBM’s strategy has been to focus on a limited number of areas, including AI, which has also seen it move to fourth place in the IFI CLAIMS annual patent rankings released last month.

The study also drills down into where the focus is for companies in their pursuit of innovation, such as the class and type of GenAI being developed. Many companies are focusing on a class of research termed ‘Computing arrangements based on biological models’ where huge computing power is required, while others such as IBM, Google and Samsung focus on all four types of GenAI outputs: video, text, speech and images. However, others such as Nvidia have a narrower focus (video and images), or only have patents in one area such as Apple (speech).

“Although generative AI seems so new to the world, the patent filings show us that the technologies around this form of AI have been developing for a while,” said Ronald Kratz, CEO of IFI CLAIMS Patent Services.

“With any powerful, emerging technology, patents are a strong indicator of which companies will dominate the space down the road,” said Kratz. “Investors should take note of the corporations protecting inventions in promising new areas.”

To see the top firms, trends, and insights published today from the world’s most trusted patent data provider, visit the IFI website.

About IFI CLAIMS Patent Services

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services uses a proprietary data architecture to produce the industry’s most accurate patent database. The CLAIMS Direct platform allows for the easy integration of applications, other data sets, and analysis software. Headquartered in New Haven, Conn., with a satellite office in Barcelona, Spain, IFI CLAIMS is part of Digital Science, a digital research technology company based in London. For more information, visit www.ificlaims.com and follow IFI on LinkedIn.

About Digital Science

Digital Science is an AI-focused technology company providing innovative solutions to complex challenges faced by researchers, universities, funders, industry and publishers. We work in partnership to advance global research for the benefit of society. Through our brands – Altmetric, Dimensions, Figshare, ReadCube, Symplectic, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services, Overleaf, Writefull, OntoChem, Scismic and metaphacts – we believe when we solve problems together, we drive progress for all. Visit www.digital-science.com and follow @digitalsci on X or on LinkedIn.

Media contacts

For media inquiries and interviews, please contact Lily Iacurci, Marketing Specialist, IFI CLAIMS Patent Services: lily.iacurci@ificlaims.com

David Ellis, Press, PR & Social Manager, Digital Science: Mobile +61 447 783 023, d.ellis@digital-science.com

The post IBM leads Google and Microsoft as race to next generation AI heats up appeared first on Digital Science.

The phrase ‘patently obvious’ is used in many contexts, from political exchanges to newspaper op-ed columns. Curiously, it is rarely used in the realm of actual patents, but in the case of General Electric’s (GE) HealthCare division, its use seems entirely appropriate.

In early 2023, GE made the decision to spin off GE HealthCare, and immediately following the move the new entity started its M&A strategy by acquiring two companies of its own – Caption Health and IMACTIS. At this early stage, is it possible to infer whether these were sound investments? Six months later, there is still a way to go before full year financial results are posted along with other financial data. However, Digital Science company IFI CLAIMS Patent Services – a global patent database provider for application developers, data scientists, and product managers – can gain insights by looking into the patents the newly enlarged GE HealthCare now holds.

Patents = strategic insights

It should be ‘patently obvious’, but checking companies’ patents can be a part of any due diligence process before an investment decision is made. Not only does this help understand risk and technology overlaps, it can also be used to determine where R&D efforts are currently focused in the target acquisition, and in turn set the strategy for the newly merged entity. Analyzing a company’s patent holdings in the midst of M&A dealings provides insights, such as: 

• Strategic direction of companies (i.e., such as the extent to which they are making strides in AI)
• Unique takes on M&A transactions as it is possible to determine – based on companies’ technologies – if core competencies overlap or not with the acquiring company
• Ascertaining if a company’s core competencies are enhanced or not by the acquisitions it’s made

IFI’s latest acquisition report takes a look at GE HealthCare’s acquisitions of IMACTIS and Caption Health’s patented technologies to determine the innovative direction of the company.

‘A good fit’

So what insights can be gleaned from patent data about GE HealthCare and its nascent M&A strategy? According to the report, the acquisition of Caption Health and IMACTIS were a ‘good fit’ for GE HealthCare. Both the acquisitions point towards GE HealthCare’s continued growth in terms of both AI and the application of AI to its existing core technologies. Specifically:

• IMACTIS is a tech healthcare company that offers, among other things, the provision of 3D virtual imaging to surgical navigation
• Caption Health focuses on providing AI capabilities and image data generation to ultrasound technologies

You can see from the chart below that GE HealthCare competes with a number of major companies in establishing AI-related patents, which surged in 2019-2020 before dipping in 2021. As such, the acquisitions in the early part of 2023 of companies that are focused on technology and AI in particular seem to be a good strategic move, especially given the furore around AI technology since late 2022.

What the data says

The report concludes that both Caption Health and IMACTIS make sense for GE HealthCare for several reasons. In the current competitive climate, Caption Health adds necessary AI capabilities while IMACTIS adds new dimensions to the suite of patents it has with 3D virtual images. So overall, it’s a gold star for GE HealthCare when it comes to enhancing its patent – and future commercial – strategy. Isn’t that obvious?

Three key takeaways

1. Digital Science’s IFI CLAIMS Patent Services – a global patent database provider for application developers, data scientists, and product managers – can help customers gain insights by looking into the patents held by firms, such as newly enlarged GE HealthCare.

2. IFI’s latest acquisition report takes a look at GE HealthCare’s acquisitions of IMACTIS and Caption Health’s patented technologies to determine the innovative direction of the company – the report concludes that both Caption Health and IMACTIS make sense for GE HealthCare for a number of reasons.

3. Checking companies’ patents should be a part of any due diligence process before any corporate investment decision is made, especially in pharmaceuticals sector.

The post AI: To buy or not to buy appeared first on Digital Science.