China Increases U.S. Patent Holdings While IBM Keeps Top Spot

Chinese inventors received a record number of U.S. patents in 2018 and are on pace to overtake Germany in the No. 4 position of top recipients, according to an analysis of filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Inventors working for Chinese companies were issued 12,589 U.S. patents in 2018, a 12 percent jump on the year and a 10-fold increase over the 1,223 they received a decade ago. The U.S. still dominates the field, with 46 percent of the 308,853 U.S. utility patents issued last year, followed by companies based in Japan, South Korea and Germany.