SIA: U.S. semicon companies dominate list of patent recipients

According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) blog post, U.S. semiconductor companies, including several SIA members, were among the top corporate recipients of U.S. patents in 2015 based on an analysis of new data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

SIA industry statistics and economic policy director Falan Yinug said five of the top 15 US corporate patent recipients are major semiconductor producers.

The top five names on the list were iBM Corporation, Qualcomm Inc., Google,Inc., Intel Corporation and Microsoft Technology Licencing LLC.

He said that this is partly because U.S. semiconductor companies invest a higher share of sales into research and development than any other U.S. industry. On average, the U.S. semiconductor industry invests about one-fifth of total sales into R&D. 

“While this is a huge amount, it does not guarantee company success in the industry. Rather, it is simply the business model that firms must adopt to compete in such a highly innovative and competitive industry,” he said.

The blog post also talks about the importance that such patents and other forms of intellectual property being protected in order for innovation to continue. One of SIA's top policy priorities is the protection of intellectual property. Intellectual property is the lifeblood of the U.S. semiconductor industry, and its protection is critical for continued U.S. global leadership—and continued high rankings on future lists of top U.S. patent recipients.