By Nathan Jolly | 15 Feb 2022

Embattled Chinese tech giant Huawei filed the most patents in the world last year, topping the list for the fifth consecutive year and shoring up intellectual property rights for a future in which they may not be able to rely upon America for key components.

US-based chipmaker Qualcomm’s yearly patent application figure jumped 80 per cent to put them second on the list.

South Korea’s tech giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics were ranked third and fourth, consecutively. According to Korea Herald, Samsung filed 3,041 application in 2021, while LG filed 2,885.

Samsung‘s filings fell 1.7 per cent from a year prior, while LG surged 4.6 percent.

These figures are based on filing with the PCT, a global filing service that protects intellectual property in over 150 countries with a single filing, under the World Intellectual Property Organisation, a United Nations agency.