These investments seem to have paid off. According to a recent report by LexisNexis IPlytics, Huawei ranks first in the world in the number of 5G patents. The number of 5G patent applications made worldwide has increased 10 times from 2017 to 2023, reaching 60,000, that is, 2.5 times the number of 4G patents.
Companies in the top 10
As of the end of 2022, Huawei employed more than 114,000 R&D workers, accounting for 55.4% of the company’s total workforce. Long-term investments in research and development have made Huawei one of the world’s largest patent holders. The company has more than 120,000 valid patents worldwide as of the end of 2022.
The patent index prepared by LexisNexis IPlytics shows that Huawei is ahead in the number of 5G patents. Qualcomm is in second place and Samsung is in third place. We see that other important players are Ericsson, Nokia and LG Electronics. ZTE, Oppo, NTT and InterDigital are at the bottom of the top 10.