Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, last year retained its position as the No. 1 patent applicant in the nation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office said.
TSMC filed 937 patent applications, the highest annual total for the company, data compiled by the office showed.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker and a major assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, was the No. 2 domestic firm with 485 applications, the office said.
The government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) was the third-largest applicant with 451, ahead of PC vendor Acer Corp (宏碁) with 380 and flat panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) with 357, it added.
Integrated circuit designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) came in sixth after filing 349 applications, followed by bubble jet printer equipment provider MicroJet Technology Co (研能科技) with 251.
Far East University, the only university in the top 10, filed 205, followed by China Steel Corp (中鋼) with 203 and Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) with 172, it said.
Meanwhile, Alibaba Group Services Ltd, a subsidiary of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴), was the top foreign patent applicant, the data showed.
Alibaba last year filed 762 patent applications, more than US-based smartphone chip designer Qualcomm Inc’s 604, semiconductor production equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc’s 493, US IC giant Intel Corp’s 429 and Japan-based Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co’s 352, the office said.
The office said it received 73,791 patent applications last year, up 2 percent from the previous year, reversing a three-year drop in applications.
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