Samsung Electronics Rises to World's No.1 in Patent Holdings [Reading Science]

OECD, Statistics on Top 2000 R&D Companies
LG Electronics Ranks 6th in Trademark Rights

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] South Korea's top global companies are also ranked among the world's best in terms of intellectual property holdings through research and development (R&D). Samsung Electronics holds the largest number of patents worldwide, while LG Electronics ranked 6th globally in the number of trademarks secured.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT on the 8th, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) analyzed the intellectual property holdings of the top 2,000 companies investing heavily in R&D worldwide (based on 2018 data) in collaboration with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) last November. The results showed this trend.

Samsung Electronics dominated the number of patents held, ranking first. Among the patents held by the entire top 2,000 R&D companies, 3.6% belonged to Samsung Electronics. Canon ranked second (2.5%), Huawei third (1.7%), BOE fourth (1.6%), and Bosch fifth (1.5%). Among other Korean companies, LG Electronics held 1.0% (18th place), LG Chem 0.9% (22nd), SK Hynix 0.6% (32nd), and Hyundai and Kia Motors each held 0.4%, ranking 46th and 49th respectively. Most of the top 50 companies in patent holdings were Asian. By country, 32 companies were from Asia: 6 from Korea, 22 from Japan, 3 from China, and 1 from Taiwan. Following were 10 from the United States, 5 from Germany, 2 from the Netherlands, and 1 from Sweden.

In terms of trademark holdings, LG Electronics accounted for 1.2% of the total among Korean companies, ranking 6th overall. It fell five places from previously holding first place. Samsung Electronics ranked 7th (1.2%). The top five were Shiseido of Japan (1.7%), Johnson & Johnson of the United States (1.4%), Kao of Japan (1.4%), AT&T of the United States (1.3%), and L'Or?al of France (1.3%).

Meanwhile, as of 2018, the top 2,000 R&D companies are estimated to have invested 805.1 billion euros (approximately 1,077 trillion won), accounting for 87.7% of global corporate R&D investment. Seventy-five percent of these companies are headquartered in five countries: the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom. The top 2,000 R&D companies are headquartered in a total of 38 countries, with 636 in the United States, 365 in China, 263 in Japan, 118 in Germany, and 96 in the United Kingdom.

Based on R&D investment amounts, the United States (38.2%) and the 27 EU countries (22%) accounted for the majority, while China (11.3%) had relatively less R&D investment compared to its number of top 2,000 R&D companies. By industry, companies in the top 10 sectors such as computers and electronic devices (18%) and pharmaceuticals (12%) accounted for 73% of all companies, indicating concentrated investment. Examining R&D intensity, the ratio of R&D investment to sales, scientific R&D was highest at 64.8%, followed by pharmaceuticals (14.7%), publishing and broadcasting (13.9%), IT services (10.5%), and computers and electronic devices (7.1%). Particularly in the computer and electronic devices industry, U.S. companies among the top 2,000 R&D firms led the sector with 36.3% of the companies and 44% of R&D investment, while Asian countries (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan) recorded a similar R&D investment share of 42.3% compared to the U.S.