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The 5G wireless networking technology has been available for several years now. The world’s first 5G smartphone debuted in April 2019. However, the majority of the world’s population doesn’t yet have access to 5G. According to the Swedish networking company Ericsson, only 35 percent of the global population was covered by 5G networks at the end of 2022, with the coverage projected to reach 85 percent in 2028.
As 5G deployment increases, the market for 5G SEPs (standard essential patents) licensing is growing too. It is becoming more lucrative than ever. Unsurprisingly, there has been a rapid increase in the number of 5G patent owners in recent years. A market study by LexisNexis reveals there were 131 unique 5G patent holders as of July 2023, up from 32 in 2015.
Overall, the firm confirmed over 60,000 granted 5G patent families globally (30,000 in Europe and the US), currently increasing at a rate of 5,000 patents annually. The top ten owners captured more the three-fourths (76 percent) of the market, but 5G patent ownership is getting “increasingly fragmented.” But who is leading this 5G patent race, let’s dive deeper into the report to find out.
The 5G patent race has familiar names at the top
LexisNexis’ report gives us 5G patent rankings under three different categories. The first category ranks companies according to the number of declared 5G patent families in the European Patent Office (EPO) or the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Huawei tops this chart, followed by Qualcomm, Samsung, LG, Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, and Oppo (the last two companies are joint seventh).
Apple, MediaTek, Xiaomi, Sony, and Intel also find themselves in the top 20. However, this ranking sees a substantial shuffling when the Patent Asset Index (PAI) is put under consideration. The PAI represents the strength of a company’s patent portfolio. A higher number of granted patents doesn’t necessarily mean a higher PAI, as some technologies are more valuable and have more significance in the grand scheme of things.
In this ranking, Huawei drops below Qualcomm and Samsung. LG is still at the fourth spot, but Nokia tumbles to the seventh. InterDigital (ranked 14th in the previous chart) climbs up to fifth. Oppo (7th to 12th), Asus (22nd to 15th), BlackBerry (34th to 23rd), Kyocera (27th to 36th), Deutsche Telecom (41st to 53rd), Langbo (24th to 40th), Cisco (56th to 45th), Brevet Capital (45th to 33rd), and Orage (56th to 74th) are other big movers in either direction.
Companies that moved from a lower rank to a higher rank have a stronger patent portfolio with fewer patent families. It’s the other way around for companies that dropped to a lower rank. They have more granted patents, but their Patent Asset Index is lower. The report states that only about 10-20 percent of declared 5G patents are truly essential, so some companies may have fewer essential patents.
Top companies contribute more to the 3GPP
This report also ranks companies according to their contributions to the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), the organization that develops the 5G wireless standard. Top companies usually make bigger contributions, with Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, and Samsung capturing the top five spots. Intel, which was ranked 20th and 21st in the previous two charts, is the seventh-biggest contributor to the 3GPP, behind ZTE.
In overall 5G patent rankings (average ranking across the three measurements), Huawei leads over Qualcomm, Samsung, Ericsson, Nokia, and LG, with ZTE, Oppo, NTT, and InterDigital making up the top ten. China has 12 firms in the top 50, followed by the US (10), Japan (7), South Korea (6), and Taiwan (6). The Netherlands and Germany have two each, while one company each from Sweden, Finland, France, Canada, and Ireland made it to the top 50.
Chinese companies also account for almost half (48 percent) of all 5G SEP licensees around the world. The country’s patent agency has granted over 26,000 5G patents, behind the USPTO (28,000). The EPO has granted 15,000 patents. Note that some companies obtain patents for the same technology across multiple jurisdictions. The top five jurisdictions (including South Korea and Japan) currently have around 41,000 unique 5G patent families.
