China's BOE was found to have filed for the largest number of technology patents in the U.S. last year. Samsung Display has applied for the second most display-related patents. Analysts say that BOE, which has newly entered into Apple's iPhone supply chain, is aggressively pursuing technological hegemony.
According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, BOE filed 3624 U.S. patents last year. This is nearly a 70% increase in the number of patent applications filed, compared to the previous year. BOE has shown an average annual growth rate of patent applications of nearly 50% over the past 10 years. It is the fastest growth rate in the industry.
Samsung Display applied for 2905 patents in the U.S. last year. This is an increase of nearly 18% compared to the previous year. LG Display applied for 783 patents in the U.S. last year. China, which has taken the world's leading position in display sales, is drawing attention to its efforts to strengthen its 'display industry' by maximizing its R&D capabilities.
China has managed to quickly secure technological capabilities in high value-added display fields such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) after reclaiming the world's leading liquid crystal display (LCD) position. Following small and medium-sized OLEDs, they are starting to mass-produce large OLEDs.
If China dominates the patent market, it can block competitors from entering the market. As of this year, Samsung Display has applied for the largest number of patents in the United States. Samsung Display has applied for a total of 1,079 patents since the beginning of this year. Meanwhile BOE has secured 713 patents this year. LG Display has applied for 185 patents.
Samsung Display is expected to speed up its acquisition of core patents in the future, since it has recently made a move to strengthen its 'patent management'. Samsung Display is the industry's leading company in the small and medium-sized OLED market for mobile devices. It also has the world's most advanced technology in terms of form factor innovations such as foldable and slideable. The company acquired German OLED startup Cynora for $300 million this year, and in the process, also secured various display-related intellectual property rights owned by Cynora.
An industry official said, "China is quickly showing its presence in the display patent market," adding that, “It is an attack strategy to completely take over the hegemony of the display market.”
By staff reporter So-ra Park srpark@etnews.com