Who is leading in terms of U.S. patents? Asia.

While U.S. patent grants rebounded by 4% in 2024 after a four-year decline, the real story is who’s driving innovation: Samsung Electronics maintained its crown for the third straight year with 6,377 patents, TSMC claimed second place with 3,989 patents, according to IFI Claims’ roundup of 2024 Top 50 U.S. Patent Assignees. Qualcomm and Apple rounded out the third and fourth spots with 3,422 and 3,082 patents granted, respectively, while Chinese tech giant Huawei rounded out the top five with 3,046 patents (marking a 47.29% increase from the previous year). Most notably, IBM had the steepest decline in the top ten with a 32.61% decline, down to 2,465 patents in 2024.

U.S. firms lagging in AI patents

Despite America’s perceived leadership in AI and its robust ecosystem of AI pioneers, non-U.S. entities now hold 56% of all U.S. patents. Asian innovation is surging, with Japanese companies granted 43,364 patents and Chinese companies securing 28,258 patents (up 31.5% year-over-year). The patent landscape tells a compelling story about the shifting geography of innovation—one that raises important questions about U.S. competitiveness in emerging technologies. Check out the IFI CLAIMS 2024 Patent Analysis for more, which notes: “U.S. patent applications were at an all-time high, up 3% from 418,111 in 2023 to 430,625 in 2024…an indicator the overall U.S. innovation economy is stronger than ever.”

[Data from IFI Claims]

Magnificent Seven patent performance

Among the “Magnificent Seven” tech giants [Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Nvidia, Meta (formerly Facebook), and Tesla], only four made the Top 50 ranking. Apple ranked the highest at fourth place, followed by Google at tenth. Microsoft and Amazon were in the top 20, but both slipped from their previous-year rankings. Meanwhile, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla—despite strong stock performance—did not make the Top 50, reflecting the reality that stock performance doesn’t necessarily map 1:1 to patent volume.

Biggest rises and surprises

Several companies from Asia posted strong growth. Changxin Memory Technologies (CXMT) lept 57 places to rank 42nd, with 731 patents in 2024 (up from 247 the previous year), for a 195.95% increase. Tencent rose 54 places to rank 46th, jumping from 306 patents to 685 (up 123.85%). And Sony Group cracked the Top 20 at No. 20, jumping 19 places thanks to a 59.41% annual patent growth.

Beyond electronics: Automotive and energy

Several automotive and energy companies appeared in the Top 50. Toyota Motor Corp ranked 14th with 1,779 patents (down 4.3%) and Ford Global Technologies placed 24th with 1,092 patents (down 14.02%). Hyundai Motor Co ranked 19th with 1,283 patents (down 16.36%), while Kia Corp ranked 22nd with a larger decrease of 28.19%.

In the energy sector, Saudi Arabian Oil Co placed 33rd with 917 patents (down from 1,003), and LG Energy Solution reached 49th with 654 patents (up 64.32%, moving up 37 places). The automotive supplier Denso Corp moved to 39th place with 767 patents, showing an 18% increase.

Patent application surge meets processing constraints at USPTO

While patent applications continue to reach all-time highs (430,625 in 2024), patent grants, although showing a slight bump this past year, have been declining since 2019. This divergence is likely a result of a growing backlog at the USPTO, which reached 813,000 unexamined applications in 2024—up from 750,000 in 2023 and 540,000 before COVID. The USPTO is actively addressing this issue by hiring more patent examiners. “It’s good to see patent grants heading in the right direction again,” said IFI CLAIMS CEO Ronald Kratz in a press release. “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 top Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes for granted patents in 2024 remained consistent with 2023, with G06F (electrical digital data processing) and H04L (transmission of digital information) leading the way. Yet the use of these codes is declining. The fastest-growing technologies include H01M (batteries), A61P (medicinal preparations), and G06T (image data generation). In terms of patent applications, G06F and H04L are still the most covered technologies, but their growth is slowing. H10K (organic electric solid-state devices) and H01M (batteries) showed significant growth, while G06N (computing arrangements based on computational models) experienced a decline.

Beyond the raw numbers, patent classification trends provide a granular look into technological trajectories and R&D priorities across industries. “Patent activity provides valuable insight into companies’ R&D strategy…often the true value of a company lies with its intellectual properties,” as IFI CLAIMS observed. For R&D professionals, tracking leading assignees and fast-growing technologies in CPC classes offers a roadmap to where the next wave of innovation is happening—be it semiconductors, batteries, AI-enabled software, or waste-mitigation inventions.