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

After four years of decline, U.S. patent grants headed upward, rising 3.8 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 worlds 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 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 IFIs 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 .

Its 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 thats 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.