U.S. patent grant and filing trends provide an indication of what companies are thinking and how they are spending their money.
U.S. patent grant data shows an slight increase among leading recipients but a decrease in filings for most of the 2025.
Patent grants declined from 2024 to 2025, roughly 324,000–325,600 down to 323,000–325,800, depending on the exact tracking metric used. New patent applications dropped sharply by about 9%.
The data also show continued dominance by Asian conglomerates, particularly in semiconductor and consumer electronics technologies, whose U.S. market is significant.
What does the trend toward more U.S. grants for Asian countries mean and the overall decline in leading company filings?
In areas like software, ecommerce and AI, patents are less directly relevant and patentability more in question, especially with unresolved U.S. patentability rules, like 101. In other industries, like computer hardware including semiconductors and pharma, where an invention is less likely to be disputed, there is a higher interest in patenting strategically. Increased reliance on less costly and more secretive trade secrets are other likely factors in the decrease of U.S. patent apps.
Higher quality patents could mean fewer are necessary for some companies to feel secure. The abundance strategy maintained by IBM for decades is less relevant today. However, by no means is IBM is out of the patent race. It is simply placing its bets more prudently for the current technology and legal environment.
IBM’s grants and applications continue to decline precipitously (18% in 2025 alone) as it embraces the Cloud, still realizes revenues from its maturing mainframe business, and puts more R&D into quantum computing.
Only 40% U.S.
The data provided by Parola Analytics indicate four of the top 10 recipients were U.S., six were Asian including Chinese Huawei. Of the top 20 owners, 10 are Asian. Huawei at number six and Tencent at number 25 are the only Chinese companies in the top 50.
Patent assignees whose numbers declined in 2025 include Qualcomm (-1.17%), IBM (-18.08%), Alphabet (-7.66%), RTX (formerly Raytheon, -3.16%) , Microsoft (-4.85%) and Amazon (-14.85%).
On the upside was Apple, 1.28%, Intel 10.92% and Dell Technologies, with an amazing 28.09% increase in patent grants. Dell is said to be developing new server designs and infrastructure used in artificial intelligence.
Among the filing leaders, global supplier of lithium-ion batteries for automobiles, China-based CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited) was the only business that saw an increase in 2025 U.S. patent applications.
More Trade Secrets?
Some believe that too much should not be read into the decline in U.S. patent grands or filings. More prudent R&D spending and increased focus on fewer, better quality patents are a likely part of the trend. The impact on future innovation and commerce unclear, but more likely than not it will be positive.
For the U.S. Patent Roundup Report, go here.
Image source: parolaanalytics.com
ipcloseup.com 