The development of 5G has been on for many years but the commercialization of this new network standard only started last year. When discussing 5G on paper, it feels that Chinese manufacturers are ahead. However, when the first 5G patent list hit the web, it became clear that China is clearly ahead in 5G development. However, there is a common belief that the US or Europe can catch up with China. If they will, it hasn’t happened just yet. Recently, IPLytics (an internationally renowned patent data company) released the latest 5G industry patent report. This report considers 5G standard essential patent.
It can be seen from the report that Chinese companies and scientific research institutions remain on top of the list. Chinese manufacturing giant, Huawei, remains in the number one spot while ZTE occupies the third position. While Huawei has 3147 cases, ZTE has 2561 cases. The ten companies and institutions, in addition to Huawei ZTE, Samsung are LG, Nokia, Ericsson, Qualcomm, Intel, Sharp, and NTT Docomo. Looking at the top ten companies, China ranks first, followed by South Korea then the US.
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5G standard essential patent ranking by country considering the top ten
- China (Huawei – 3147 & ZTE – 2561) – 5708 patents
- South Korea (Samsung – 2795 & LG – 2300) – 5095 patents
- United States (Intel – 1293 & Qualcomm – 870) – 2163 patents
- Finland (Nokia – including Alcatel-Lucent) – 2149 – patents
- Sweeden (Ericsson) – 1494 patents
- Japan (Sharp – 747 & NTT Docomo – 721) – 1468 patents
In addition to Huawei and ZTE, there are other companies and institutions like OPPO, China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, Vivo, Lenovo, Hongying Innovation, and Ziguang Zhanrui which have a significant number of 5G patents. Collectively, Chinese companies account for more than one-third of the latest 5G standard essential patent. The strength of China is indisputable.
If the likes of ASUS, HTC, MediaTek, and Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute (all Taiwanese companies) are considered as Chinese companies, then China further extends its grip on 5G.