By Tammy D'Amato of Patent Board™The Semiconductor Patent Scorecard represents companies involved in the development and
manufacture or semiconductor equipment and materials. This includes a variety of chips,
integrated circuits, logic devices and microprocessors as well as testing equipment, packaging and
specialty materials needed for the production of semiconductors.
Semiconductors is the highest utility patenting scorecard of the seventeen industries tracked by
The Patent Board and accounts for 14.7% of all active U.S. utility patents issued this past year. The
average patents per semiconductor company per year are 105 and is the third highest of all industries.
The top 10 semiconductor companies account for almost 40% of the patents in the industry.
There have been 22 new companies added to the semiconductor industry this past year bringing the
volume of companies to 223, which is the highest company count of all industries tracked and 46 more
than the next highest industry of Electronics & Instruments. However, the majority of companies in
this scorecard do not patent heavily, with only 20% of the companies having 100 or more U.S. utility
patents issued to them this past year. While these lower patenting companies may have a
tough time reaching a top 10 position, they are still impactful and important to the innovations this
industry needs to keep ...
