Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) retained the title of No. 1 invention patent applicant in the country in the first half of this year, according to the Intellectual Property Office of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
In addition to topping the list of Taiwanese companies, TSMC was also ahead of all foreign applicants in the six-month period, the office said in a report issued late last month.
Data compiled by the office showed TSMC filed 1,171 invention patent applications, up 1 percent from a year earlier, making the chipmaker the largest invention patent applicant in Taiwan for the seventh year in a row.
Photo: Ann Wang / Reuters
Among foreign companies, South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co was the top invention patent applicant, filing 430 applications in the first half of the year, a 48 percent rise from a year earlier, the data showed.
Under Taiwan's law, patents are categorized into three groups — invention, utility model and design — and invention patents are considered the most important in terms of developing new technology.
The office said artificial intelligence (AI) development led to an increase in high-performance computing applications, which pushed up demand for TSMC’s high-end processes and led the company to seek more invention patents.
After TSMC, smartphone IC designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) came in second after filing 321 invention patents in the six-month period, the highest level for the company and up 114 percent from a year earlier, followed by flat-panel maker AUO Corp (友達) with, 228, up 3 percent, DRAM chip supplier Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) with 219, down 12 percent, and flat-panel supplier Innolux Corp (群創) with 181, up 1 percent.
The office said the increase in invention patent applications from MediaTek, Innolux and Inventec Corp (英業達) provided more evidence that AI development had fueled the increase.
Following Samsung, US semiconductor equipment supplier Applied Materials Inc took the second spot among foreign applicants after filing 341 invention patents in the six-month period, down 22 percent from a year earlier, ahead of US smartphone IC designer Qualcomm Inc, with 316, down 22 percent, Japanese electrical product maker Nitto Denko Corp with 254, up 10 percent, and Japan-based semiconductor supplier Tokyo Electron Ltd with 249, down 8 percent.
The office said this was the first time that Samsung had filed more than 400 invention patents in Taiwan.
In the first half of this year, a total of 24,256 invention patents were filed, down 0.2 percent from a year earlier, with 9,390 of them from local entities, up 0.4 percent, and 14,866 from foreign entities, down 1 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
In terms of trademarks, food brand Uni-President Enterprises Corp (統一企業) was the largest local applicant in the first half of this year after filing 239 applications, while China-based automaker SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Co (上汽通用五菱汽車) was the top foreign trademark applicant in Taiwan with 84 applications, the office said.
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