People queue outside a Huawei store in Shanghai for the newly released Mate 70 series on November 26, 2024. Photo: VCG
Patent applications from China reached a record high in 2024, according to a report released by European Patent Office (EPO) on Tuesday, showing a strong presence of Chinese companies in the European technology market.
The report said Chinese companies and researchers filed 20,081 patent applications last year at the EPO ranking the 4th worldwide, accounting for 10.1 percent of total applications there, following the US (47,787 applications), Germany (25,033 applications), and Japan (21,062 applications).
Patent filings from China have grown steadily over the past decade. While growth slowed in 2024, up only 0.5 percent compared to 2023, applications from China have more than doubled since 2018; and more than quadrupled since 2014.
China's innovation momentum remains strong. Huawei Technologies led the Chinese rankings, placing second overall at the EPO in 2024 behind Samsung, followed by LG, Qualcomm, and RTX.
In addition to Huawei (4,322 applications), five other Chinese companies ranked in the top 50 applicants at the EPO, showcasing China's robust innovation capabilities and active participation in European patent applications.
The list includes CATL at number 14, with 1,163 European patent applications, ZTE at 16, with 999 applications, Xiaomi at number 20, with 763 applications, Vivo Mobile at 28, with 622 applications and finally Tencent at number 49, with 446 European patent applications.
The report also noted a surge in patent filings from China related to battery technologies.
Chinese firms saw the strongest growth in electrical machinery, apparatus, and energy, up 32.2 percent in 2024 year-on-year. This was thanks to a surge from China in patent applications for battery-related technologies (+79 percent), with four Chinese companies now among the top 15 applicants in battery technologies (up from two in 2023): CATL, Eve Energy, BYD and Zhuhai CosMX Battery.
The trend is being by innovation in battery technology, which is key to the energy transition, Luis Berenguer, European Patent Office Spokesperson, told the Global Times.
For China, the top three technical fields in EPO filings in 2024 were digital communication, electrical machinery and apparatus, and computer technology — mirroring global trends, which is an indication of Chinese companies' specialization in these key technologies, the spokesperson said.
