Korean Media: In Europe Patent Applications Ranking, Samsung Tops, LG Second, Where Is Huawei?
On April 27, South Korean media outlet Herald Economic published an article stating that last year, Samsung Electronics ranked first in patent applications at the European Patent Office. LG Electronics also maintained its third position, with an increase of over 20% compared to the previous year.
According to data released by the European Patent Office, Samsung led with 5,337 patent applications, a 4.5% increase from the previous year. China's Huawei ranked second with 4,744 applications, while LG came in third with 4,464 applications—a year-on-year growth of 23.2%, closely following Huawei.
Starting from fourth place, the rankings are as follows: Qualcomm (2,939), Nokia (2,242), Siemens (1,653), Ericsson (1,418), BASF (1,372), and Microsoft (1,363).
SK (513 applications) and Hyundai Motor (430 applications) ranked 41st and 46th respectively, with five South Korean companies entering the top 50.
By country or region, the United States led with 23.3% of total applications, followed by Germany (12.1%), China (10.9%), Japan (10.5%), South Korea (7.1%), and France (5.4%).
China entered the top three for the first time, growing by 9.7%, primarily driven by strong growth in fields such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing. South Korea retained its fifth-place ranking, maintaining a steady growth rate of 9.5% since first entering the top five in 2024.
Last year, the European Patent Office received a total of 201,974 patent applications—up 1.4% from the previous year—marking the first time the number surpassed 200,000.
By field, computer technology had the highest number of applications (17,844), followed by digital communications (17,802), electrical machinery, devices, and energy (16,997), medical technology (15,905), and transportation (9,846).
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1863624125518858/
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