PCT Newsletter
March 2026 | No. 03/2026
PCT filings rise again in 2025
International patent applications filed through the PCT system grew by 0.7% to reach 275,900 filings worldwide in 2025 – the second annual increase in a row.
As in 2024, information and communications technologies accounted for a significant share of activity. More than a fifth of all PCT applications related to digital communication (11.1%) and computer technology (9.6%), while filings for digital communication and semiconductors grew by 6.1% each.
China remained the leading origin of PCT filings with 73,718 applications (up 5.3% from 2024). Other top countries of origin included the United States of America (52,617 applications,
-3.0% growth), Japan (47,922, -1.0%), the Republic of Korea (25,016, +4.9%) and Germany (16,441, -1.8%).
The top 10 countries of origin, their number of filings and their share of total filings were as follows (preliminary figures):
| 1 | China | 73,718 | 26.7% |
| 2 | United States of America | 52,617 | 19.1% |
| 3 | Japan | 47,922 | 17.4% |
| 4 | Republic of Korea | 25,016 | 9.1% |
| 5 | Germany | 16,441 | 6.0% |
| 6 | France | 7,778 | 2.8% |
| 7 | United Kingdom | 5,809 | 2.1% |
| 8 | Switzerland | 5,012 | 1.8% |
| 9 | Netherlands (Kingdom of the) | 4,239 | 1.5% |
| 10 | Sweden | 3,857 | 1.4% |
The top eight countries of origin all held the same positions in the rankings as in 2024. However, the Netherlands moved up one place to number 9 and Sweden advanced to the number 10 spot, with India falling from ninth in 2024 to 12th in 2025.
China-based telecommunications company Huawei Technologies had 7,523 PCT applications published during 2025, maintaining its status as leading PCT applicant for the ninth year running. Three of the other top 10 applicants were also from China along with three from the Republic of Korea, two from Japan and one from the United States of America. Their 2025 published PCT application totals were as follows:
| 1 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd (CN) | 7,523 |
| 2 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd (KR) | 4,968 |
| 3 | Qualcomm Incorporated (US) | 3,227 |
| 4 | LG Electronics Inc. (KR) | 2,400 |
| 5 | Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CN) | 2,203 |
| 6 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd (JP) | 2,094 |
| 7 | LG Energy Solution, Ltd (KR) | 1,958 |
| 8 | BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd (CN) | 1,946 |
| 9 | Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co., Ltd (CN) | 1,921 |
| 10 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (JP) | 1,835 |
Jio Platforms Limited of India entered the global top 20 following a huge increase of 971 in its published PCT applications. Other applicants that entered or returned to the top 20 included NTT Docomo, Inc. (Japan), Nokia Technologies OY (Finland) and Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Co., Ltd (China).
Filing activity in the education sector was led by the University of California with 488 published PCT applications. Five other US institutions featured among the top 10 applicants from the sector, along with two universities from China and one each from Japan and the Republic of Korea.
For more information on the 2025 PCT filings, including results for all countries of origin, refer to the press release and its annexes at:
Please note that all data are provisional as some PCT applications filed with national and regional Offices in 2025 may not yet have been received at the International Bureau (IB). Final results will be reported later this year.
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