Overview
- Apple received 2,722 U.S. patents in 2025 versus 3,082 in 2024, a decline that moved it down two spots to sixth in IFI’s Top 50.
- U.S. patent grants totaled 323,272 in 2025 and applications fell 9% to 393,344, marking the lowest filing level since 2019.
- Samsung led with 7,054 grants, followed by TSMC at 4,194, Qualcomm at 3,749, Huawei at 3,052, and Samsung Display at 2,859.
- The USPTO was working through a backlog exceeding 1.2 million applications, slowing the pace of patent issuance.
- U.S.-based companies’ totals declined by more than 5% as several Asian firms gained share; Google slipped in the rankings, Nvidia missed the Top 50, IBM fell outside the top 10, and companies like Dell and Toyota advanced on patents tied to computing infrastructure, energy storage, and vehicle systems.