China semiconductor patent applications skyrocket amid US export restrictions — country sees a 42% increase in patent filings

(Image credit: Intel)

According to a report from Mathys & Squire, an intellectual property law firm, the number of semiconductor-related patent applications filed in China skyrocketed in 2023 – 2024, and Tianxia is now well ahead of the U.S. in terms of the number of applications. This happens amid the declining number of semiconductor companies in China and major restrictions imposed on the country's microelectronics sector by the U.S. and some of its allies.

Global semiconductor patent filings rose sharply by 22% from March 2023 to March 2024, compared to the previous year, reaching 80,892 applications. This growth is fueled by the rapid expansion of AI technology and increased R&D investment in fundamental semiconductor production, particularly in China.

"Gen-AI is the most recent technology that is spurring R&D in the semiconductor industry and leading to an associated rise in patent applications," said Edd Cavanna, partner at Mathys & Squire. "This is likely an indication that the rivalry between U.S. and China in the semiconductor patent space is heating up."

China saw a dramatic 42% rise in patent filings, with applications growing from 32,840 in 2022 - 2023 to 46,591 in 2023 - 2024. On the other hand, according to the report, the U.S. experienced a smaller but still notable 9% increase in semiconductor patent filings, rising from 19,507 to 21,269 over the same period. This information is not particularly surprising as it corroborates with the World Intellectual Property Organization, which asserts that Chinese companies generally filed more patent applications than American firms: 69,610 vs 55,678. Huawei led the world with 6,494 patents filed last year.

Mathys & Squire attributes the number of patent applications to China's strategic response to U.S. semiconductor export restrictions. The Chinese government has also promoted technological advancements, such as microelectronics, to bolster its domestic industry.

However, since the U.S. began imposing sanctions on China's semiconductor sector in 2019–2020, the number of chip companies in China has steadily declined, with the downturn worsening in 2022–2023 due to slowing chip demand.

Over 22,000 chip-related firms have shut down since 2019, with 2023 marking a record year as 10,900 companies lost registration — nearly double the 5,746 closures in 2022. This translates to an average of 30 Chinese chip companies closing daily in 2023. Despite that, the number of patent applications filed in China is growing. What remains to be seen is whether this will result in more competitive microelectronics (particularly CPUs and GPUs) designed in China.

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

More about tech industry

The ‘world’s smallest microcontroller’ measures just 1.38 mm² and costs 20 cents

Microsoft's latest Quantum computing claims have been named 'unreliable' by scientists

Intel appoints Lip-Bu Tan as permanent CEO

See more latest

5 Comments Comment from the forums

mac_angel

I wouldn't be surprised if China beats Western Civilizations to photonic transistors.
In the scale of being able to replace CPUs, GPUs, Ai, etc.
Reply
The Historical Fidelity

This is a phenomenon as old as time. Government issues grant money, anyone with a hair brain idea starts a company and takes the money, most of the companies close, either because the idea was a dead end or because the entire goal was to pocket the money.
Reply
pug_s

The Historical Fidelity said:
This is a phenomenon as old as time. Government issues grant money, anyone with a hair brain idea starts a company and takes the money, most of the companies close, either because the idea was a dead end or because the entire goal was to pocket the money.
This is almost the same as what Venture capitalists are doing. Pocketing the money is probably going to happen but I doubt that will happen in a large scale. Most of the money goes to R&D otherwise thus the reason China cranking out those patent applications. I would imagine that at least 90% of the companies would go under because they couldn't produce a viable product but that less than 10% of the R&D would produce a viable product which is what the government's plan all along.
Reply
The Historical Fidelity

pug_s said:
This is almost the same as what Venture capitalists are doing. Pocketing the money is probably going to happen but I doubt that will happen in a large scale. Most of the money goes to R&D otherwise thus the reason China cranking out those patent applications. I would imagine that at least 90% of the companies would go under because they couldn't produce a viable product but that less than 10% of the R&D would produce a viable product which is what the government's plan all along.
Yes, I agree, you basically just reiterated my comment. But the difference between government grants and venture capital is that the government is accountable to all the tax payers to not waste their hard earned money, whereas venture capitalists can do whatever they want with their own money.

And I’m not digging on just China, remember Obama giving close to a trillion dollars of grant money to renewable energy startups? Same thing happened, 90% of the money resulted in nothing to show for it.
Reply
flashflood101

This won't help them in the face of a collapsing economy, stagnating population, and ever-more restricted access to first world markets in which to sell their technology products.
They won't have the resources to bootstrap themselves for much longer.
Their opportunity to eclipse the West has likely already passed.
Peter Zeihan offers insights into the inevitable fall of China as a world power.
Reply

Show more comments

Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter