Samsung Electronics ranks first for the most U.S. patents granted among global companies last year, holding the top spot for a fourth consecutive year.

A recently published report by U.S. patent information firm IFI Claims shows 323,272 patents were registered in the United States in 2025.

Samsung Electronics secured 7,054 patents, maintaining the lead with more than 2 percent of all registered patents. That is about 11 percent more than a year earlier, when it recorded 6,377 patents.

Samsung Display ranked fifth with 2,859 patents, up two places, while LG Electronics placed 10th with 2,284 patents. LG Display ranked 30th with 932 patents.

SK Hynix ranked 37th with 844 patents, underscoring the patent competitiveness of South Korean chipmakers.

LG Energy Solution secured 981 patents, up 50 percent from a year earlier, and jumped 22 places to rank 27th. It posted the biggest rise in ranking among the companies surveyed.

An upward trend among automakers was also confirmed. Hyundai Motor ranked 16th with 1,631 patents, up three places, and Kia rose five places to 17th with 1,606 patents.

By contrast, U.S. company IBM slipped out of the top 10 and remained in 11th place. IBM held the top spot for 29 consecutive years through 2021, but its ranking fell after it implemented a selective patent-filing policy.

By country, the number of patent registrations by South Korean companies rose more than 8 percent from a year earlier to 26,147, extending an upward trend.

Asian companies accounted for about 60 percent of all patents, showing a trend in which the center of technological innovation is shifting from the West to the East.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. patent applications fell 9 percent from a year earlier to the lowest level since 2019.

Still, eco-friendly technologies such as battery cell operation, electrolysis and recycling were cited as the fastest-growing fields, and research and development related to the energy transition was analysed as becoming more active.

[Yonhap News Agency]