Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) applied for the most patents among all of the nation’s companies last year for a fifth consecutive year, the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said on Wednesday last week.
Data compiled by the office showed that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, filed 1,096 patent applications for new inventions.
Smartphone chip designer Qualcomm Inc ranked as the top foreign patent applicant in Taiwan with 720 invention patent applications, the office said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
According to Taiwan’s patent law, patents are categorized into three groups: invention patents, utility model patents and design patents, with invention patents being the most important in terms of the creation of technical ideas.
It was the second time that TSMC had filed more than 1,000 patent applications in one year, after filing 1,333 applications in 2019, the office said.
TSMC, which has a market share of more than 50 percent in the global pure wafer foundry business, has been eager to develop new processes to cement its technology lead over its peers, it said.
Among domestic companies, PC brand Acer Inc (宏碁) came in second with 523 patent applications, including 334 invention patents, 85 utility model patents and 104 design patents, the office said.
It was followed by flat-panel maker AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) with 466 applications, communication network IC designer Realtek Semiconductor Corp (瑞昱半導體) with 420 applications and the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (工研院) with 352 applications, the office said.
Among foreign applicants, US semiconductor equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc came in second with 652 patent applications, including 615 invention patents, six utility model patents and 31 design patents, it said.
It was followed by three Japanese companies: electronics component maker Nitto Denko Corp with 461 applications, semiconductor supplier Tokyo Electron Ltd with 460 applications and memory chipmaker Kioxia Corp with 338 applications, the office said.
Amid a technology innovation trend in the financial sector, eight Taiwanese banks finished among the top 100 local patent applicants in Taiwan, it said.
They included Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) in 19th place among domestic patent applicants, Bank of Taiwan (臺灣銀行) in 21st place and Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合庫銀行) in 37th place, the office said.
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