A Huawei store stands next to a Globe Telecom booth in Makati City, the Philippines on April 14, 2019. Photo: cnsphoto

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies has been granted 2,722 invention patents in China in the first half of 2020, taking the leader's position  among Chinese mainland companies,  followed by OPPO with 1,925 and BOE Technology Group  with 1,432 patents.

The company is also one of the top patents holders globally, according to a Huawei company report released on Tuesday. 

By December 31, 2019, Huawei held more than 85,000 authorized patents worldwide, of which more than 30,000 were authorized in China market. 90 percent were invention patents, the report showed.

China received 683,000 invention patent applications and approved 217,000 in the first half of 2020, according to data released by the National Intellectual Property Administration Thursday. 

Patent applications for integrated circuit layout designs increased 80 percent in the first six months of 2020 amid the industry's rapid development. 

China handled 5,176 patent applications for integrated circuit layout designs from January to June, up 78.2 percent. The country issued 5,262 certificates, up 111.6 percent from the previous year.

It is expected that semiconductor chips designing patent applications in China will continue to grow, said Ge Shu, chief of the Bureau of Strategic Planning at the National Intellectual Property Administration. 

He said that the bureau will further improve examination, registration and protection of the intellectual property rights. 

China's integrated circuit industry maintained a growth trend in the first quarter of this year, with industry sales topping 147.27 billion yuan ($21 billion), a year-on-year increase of 15.6 percent, according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association.

China filed 58,990 patent applications with the World Intellectual Property Association in 2019, for the first time surpassing the US, which filed 57,840, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization.