2022 Trend analysis and comparisons on Taiwan invention patent applications and WIPO PCT applications

　On September 7, 2023, the TIPO released the trend analysis of and comparison between Taiwan invention patent applications and WIPO PCT applications in 2022, according to which the field of semiconductors took the first place ahead other fields of technology with a share of 14.5% of Taiwan’s invention patent applications in 2022, while the field of computer technology won the crown in the WIPO PCT applications with a share of 10.4%.  It is noticeable that invention patent applications from Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., China, and South Korea were mostly filed in the field of semiconductors in Taiwan, but the WIPO PCT applications from the five countries were most filed in the field of computer technology, digital communication, and electrical machinery.  As for applicants, TSMC and Huawei each surpassed their peers as the top applicant in Taiwan and in WIPO, respectively.  

　1.  The invention patent applications filed in Taiwan have been constantly growing, while the WIPO PCT applications marked the lowest growth in recent 13 years.

　The TIPO had received a total of 50,242 invention patent applications throughout 2022, which marked a 2.3% increase mainly because of the numbers of filings from the U.S., China, and South Korea went up by 9.4%~16.1%.  On the other hand, the WIPO had around 278,100 PCT applications, the slowest increase of 0.3% since 2009.  The top three filing countries, China, the U.S., and Japan had seen their marginal growth of under 1%.  

　2.  Resident applications mostly came from the six major municipalities with those from Taipei, New Taipei City, and Hsinchu City together accounting for 55% of all resident applications.  

　Resident applicants of invention patent applications mostly came from the six major municipalities and Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County and their applications made up 92.3% of all invention patent applications filed in 2022.  Among the total resident applications filed in 2022, those from Taipei City, New Taipei City, and Hsinchu City together accounted for 55.4%, moving up by 4.7% from 50.7% for 2018.  Applicants from Hsinchu City led by filing 4,455 applications, surpassing the applicants from Taipei City with 3,154 applications, and those from New Taipei City with 3,129 applications.  Besides, applications from Miaoli County surged to 538 applications to exceed 500 applications for the first time, seeing a significant increase of 84%.  

　3.  Most of applications in Taiwan were filed for the field of semiconductors, and WIPO PCT applications, for the field of computer technology.  

　In 2022, the field of semiconductors preceded other fields to have the most applications filed in Taiwan with a share of 14.5%, followed by the field of computer technology with a share of 9%.  As for the WIPO PCT applications, the field of computer technology took the lead with a share of 10.4% of all WIPO PCT applications, ahead the field of digital communication with a share of 9.4%.  

　A further comparison manifests the fields of semiconductors, computer technology, electrical machinery, audio-visual technology, measurement, and pharmaceuticals being among the top 10 technology fields both in Taiwan and in WIPO.  However, there is a drastic difference that the field of semiconductors ranked 1^st in Taiwan but came in tenth in WIPO PCT applications (at 3.3%), which reveals that the field semiconductors has its predominance in Taiwan.  Another finding is that the fields of digital communication and medical technology named among the top 5 fields of technology were absent from the top 10 fields of technology in Taiwan.  

　4.  Top filing countries (regions) mostly filed invention applications for semiconductors in Taiwan, while their PCT applications were mostly filed for computer technology, digital communication, and electrical machinery, apparatus, energy.  

　In 2022, for invention patent applications filed with TIPO, Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., China, and South Korea had contributed the most applications for semiconductors with shares of 11.7%~22.5%.  However, the largest number of patent filings by Germany was for organic fine chemistry with a share of 10.8%, and semiconductors was not among Germany’s top three fields of patent applications.  

　As to WIPO PCT applications, China and the U.S. each filed mostly for computer technology with a share of 15.7% and 13.1%, respectively, and Japan and Germany filed an extensive number of applications for patents related to electrical machinery with a share of around 11%, respectively, while South Korea’s patent filings were mostly for digital communication, computer technology, and electrical machinery, apparatus, energy each averagely at 10%~11%.  

　5.  TSMC was the most prolific applicant of invention patents in Taiwan, while Huawei topped the ranking in WIPO.  

　TSMC has outnumbered its peers to be the most prolific applicant of invention patent applications for four straight years and had filed a total of 1,543 applications throughout 2022, surpassing Applied Materials with 847 applications, Qualcomm with 763 applications, and Samsung with 666 applications.  On the other hand, Huawei has topped the ranking in WIPO for the six consecutive years and filed a total of 7,689 applications in 2022 in WIPO, trailed by Samsung with 4,387 filings and Qualcomm with 3,855 filings.  Qualcomm of the U.S. and Samsung of South Korea were named among the top 10 applicants both in Taiwan and in WIPO.  

　6.  The top 10 filers had their applications filed mostly for semiconductors in Taiwan, while the top 10 WIPO PCT applicants had a great share of their applications filed for digital communication.  

　In Taiwan, six out of the top 10 filers in 2022, including TSMC, filed mostly for semiconductors in 2019-2021 with shares of 37.2%~80.6%, and Nanya Technology contributed most of these applications at 80.6%.  The filings in WIPO were quite different; six out of the top 10 PCT applicants in 2022 had most of their applications filed for digital communication with shares of 26.9%~70.4%, and LM Ericsson accounted for 70.4% thereof.  

　In addition, the comparison analysis found that Samsung of South Korea builds a patent portfolio quite differently in Taiwan and in WIPO by having a great share of its applications filed for semiconductors in Taiwan and for digital communication in WIPO.  On the contrary, there was a slight difference of Qualcomm’s patent portfolio between Taiwan and WIPO; that is, Qualcomm filed the greatest number of applications for digital communication both in Taiwan and in WIPO, and the second largest fields of technology of Qualcomm’s applications in Taiwan and in WIPO were audio-visual technology and telecommunications in WIPO, respectively; its third largest field for patent applications was computer technology both in Taiwan and in WIPO.  

　7.  The trend analysis reveals that the WIPO PCT applications attach more importance to digital communication-related and health-related technologies.

　Since its establishment in 1999, TIPO has been receiving more and more invention patent applications at an average growth rate of 3.6% per year, and semiconductor is the top technology field of applications, followed by computer technology, electrical machinery, optics and audio-visual technology.  On the other hand, the number of WIPO PCT applications has been growing by 11.5% per year on average since WIPO began to receive invention patent applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system in 1978, and computer technology precedes others as the top technology field, surpassing the fields of medical technology, digital communication, electrical machinery, and pharmaceuticals.  The comparison between the patent applications filed in Taiwan and those in WIPO makes it clear that there is more patenting in digital communication and health-related technology in PCT applications.  (Released 2023.09.07)    
/CCS