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Patent Leaderboard
USPTO Patent Rankings Data through Dec 31, 2025
Home › Technologies › Optics and photonics

Optics and photonics Patent Leaders in 2018 2018

Primary CPC class G02 · Section G

Rankings count each patent once by its primary Cooperative Patent Classification. All-time pages aggregate the full database; year pages use patent grant year.

Recent years: 2016201720182019202020212022202320242025

Patents per Year

Patents granted per year, 1996 to 2025Bar chart with a peak of 8,985 patents in 2019.peak 8,9851996: 2,278 patents19961997: 2,459 patents1998: 3,436 patents1999: 3,249 patents19992000: 3,507 patents2001: 3,890 patents2002: 4,204 patents20022003: 4,794 patents2004: 5,388 patents2005: 5,063 patents20052006: 5,602 patents2007: 5,161 patents2008: 5,164 patents20082009: 5,377 patents2010: 6,114 patents2011: 5,831 patents20112012: 5,827 patents2013: 6,265 patents2014: 6,659 patents20142015: 6,748 patents2016: 7,235 patents2017: 7,938 patents20172018: 7,427 patents2019: 8,985 patents2020: 8,699 patents20202021: 7,734 patents2022: 7,685 patents2023: 7,238 patents20232024: 7,518 patents2025: 7,097 patents2025

Top Inventors

Rank ↑ Inventor ↕ Patents ↕ Primary Company ↕
1 Yeong-Ming Chang 84 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co.
2 Nai-Yuan Tang 60 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co.
3 Chien-Hsun Lai 50 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co.
#4 Yao-Wei Liu 42 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co.
#5 Wei-Yu Chen 31 Largan Precision Co.
#6 Ki Chul Shin 24 Samsung
#7 Ming-Ta Chou 19 Largan Precision Co.
#8 Yuejun Tang 19 Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co.
#9 Chang Xie 18 Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co.
#10 Hsin-Hsuan Huang 17 Largan Precision Co.
#11 Randall B. Pugh 16 Johnson & Johnson
#12 Sang Ok Park 16 Lg Innotek Co.
#13 Ming-Jun Li 15 Corning Incorporated
#14 Xue Dong 15 BOE
#15 Chun-Che Hsueh 14 Largan Precision Co.
#16 Lei Zhang 14 Aac Optics Solutions Pte.
#17 Micah Colen Isenhour 14 Corning Optical Communications
#18 Radhakrishnan L. Nagarajan 14 Inphi
#19 Tuomas Vallius 14 Microsoft
#20 Xinhui Zhong 14 Tencent
#21 Hajime Kimura 13 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
#22 John N. Border 13 Osterhout Group
#23 Shunpei Yamazaki 13 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
#24 Thomas Kalkbrenner 13 Carl Zeiss Microscopy Gmbh
#25 Adam Toner 12 Johnson & Johnson
#26 Dana Craig Bookbinder 12 Corning Incorporated
#27 Darrell R. Childers 12 Us Conec
#28 Hayato Kurasawa 12 Japan Display
#29 Hitoshi Hirano 12 Kantatsu Co.
#30 James Phillip Luther 12 Corning Cable Systems
#31 Jianming Wang 12 BOE
#32 Kenichi Kubota 12 Kantatsu Co.
#33 Norikazu Miyazaki 12 Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co.
#34 Stefan Alexander 12 Ignis Innovation
#35 Takashi Takeda 12 Seiko Epson
#36 Wenbo Li 12 BOE
#37 Yoji Kubota 12 Kantatsu Co.
#38 Frederick A. Flitsch 11 Johnson & Johnson
#39 Hiroyuki Teraoka 11 Aac Technologies Pte.
#40 Poping Shen 11 Xiamen Tianma Micro-Electronics Co.
#41 Pushkar Tandon 11 Corning Incorporated
#42 Sang Jun Min 11 Lg Innotek Co.
#43 Yasushi Tomioka 11 Japan Display
#44 Zhaoyang Tong 11 Commscope Telecommunications (Shanghai) Co.
#45 Donghoon Kim 10 Samsung
#46 Gege Zhou 10 Tencent
#47 Hans-Juergen Dobschal 10 Tooz Technologies Gmbh
#48 James Daniel Riall 10 Johnson & Johnson
#49 Jianbo Xian 10 BOE
#50 Matthew Bone 10 Genius Electronic Optical Co.
#51 Masayuki Takagi 10 Seiko Epson
#52 Michael Renne Ty Tan 10 Agilent Technologies
#53 Osamu Itou 10 Japan Display
#54 Russell A. Budd 10 IBM
#55 Shinichiro Akieda 10 Fujitsu Component Limited
#56 Shang Wang 10 BOE
#57 Toshiharu Matsushima 10 Japan Display
#58 Trevor D. Smith 10 Adc Telecommunications
#59 Yong Qiao 10 BOE
#60 Zhengbiao Ouyang 10 Shenzhen University
#61 Akira Komatsu 9 Seiko Epson
#62 Ashok V. Krishnamoorthy 9 Oracle
#63 Feng Chen 9 Genius Electronic Optical (Xiamen) Co.
#64 Gregory Alan Fish 9 Aurrion
#65 Haisheng Wang 9 BOE
#66 Hee Seung Kim 9 Jahwa Electronics Co.
#67 Hiroyuki Miyake 9 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
#68 Hidehiro Sonoda 9 Japan Display
#69 Hongfei Cheng 9 BOE
#70 John D. Haddick 9 Mentor Acquisition One
#71 Junwoo YOU 9 Samsung
#72 Karsten Lindig 9 Tooz Technologies Gmbh
#73 Lloyd Frederick Holland 9 North
#74 Masaki Kato 9 Inphi
#75 Myung Sup Jung 9 Samsung
#76 Robert Ryan VALLANCE 9 Nanoprecision Products
#77 Toshimasa Ishigaki 9 Japan Display
#78 Toshiaki Miyao 9 Seiko Epson
#79 Toru Sakai 9 Amazon
#80 Tymon Barwicz 9 IBM
#81 Xiangyang Xu 9 Tencent
#82 Yanbing Wu 9 BOE
#83 Yongda Ma 9 BOE
#84 Young Min Park 9 Samsung
#85 Yungjui Lee 9 Tencent
#86 Yu Lu 9 Commscope Technologies
#87 Andrei Faraon 8 Caltech
#88 Baek-Kyun Jeon 8 Samsung
#89 Chuandong Wei 8 Aac Optics Solutions Pte.
#90 Daisuke Kajita 8 Panasonic
#91 Daisuke Kubota 8 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory
#92 Fujian Dai 8 Zhejiang Sunny Optics Co.
#93 Hongqing Cui 8 Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co.
#94 Hui Du 8 E Ink California
#95 Jingpeng Li 8 Beijing Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co.
#96 Jie Zeng 8 Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co.
#97 John Z. Zhong 8 Apple
#98 Koji Ishizaki 8 Japan Display
#99 Liang Ding 8 Ningbo Sunny Opotech Co.
#100 Lin Huang 8 Zhejiang Sunny Optical Co.

Top Companies

Rank ↑ Company ↕ Patents ↕
1 Samsung 631
2 BOE 397
3 Japan Display 226
#4 Tencent 211
#5 LG 203
#6 Canon 132
#7 Olympus 120
#8 Seiko Epson 109
#9 Fujifilm 107
#10 Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co. 105
#11 Panasonic 99
#12 Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha 86
#13 Ability Opto-Electronics Technology Co. 84
#14 Commscope Technologies 84
#15 Corning Optical Communications 78
#16 Largan Precision Co. 73
#17 3M 72
#18 Sony 72
#19 Beijing Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 68
#20 Microsoft 65
#21 Lg Innotek Co. 64
#22 IBM 62
#23 Fujikura 55
#24 Amazon 53
#25 Beijing Boe Display Technology Co. 52
#26 Semiconductor Energy Laboratory 50
#27 Apple 49
#28 Genius Electronic Optical (Xiamen) Co. 43
#29 Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co. 43
#30 Nikon 41
#31 Tianma Microelectronics Co. 41
#32 Aac Technologies Pte. 40
#33 Sumitomo Electric Industries 39
#34 Corning Incorporated 37
#35 Nitto Denko 37
#36 Meta 37
#37 Carl Zeiss Microscopy Gmbh 36
#38 Sakai Display Products 35
#39 Au Optronics 34
#40 Hefei Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 32
#41 E Ink Holdings 31
#42 Innolux 30
#43 Ricoh Company 30
#44 Huawei 30
#45 Johnson & Johnson 30
#46 KAIST 28
#47 Unknown 27
#48 Google 27
#49 Commscope Connectivity Belgium Bvba 26
#50 Mitsubishi Electric 25
#51 Fujitsu Limited 24
#52 Hewlett Packard Enterprise 24
#53 Xiamen Tianma Micro-Electronics Co. 24
#54 Intel 23
#55 Caltech 22
#56 Finisar 22
#57 Foxconn 22
#58 Inphi 22
#59 Ofs Fitel 21
#60 Konica Minolta 20
#61 Sumitomo Osaka Cement Co. 20
#62 US Air Force 20
#63 Denso 19
#64 Essilor International 19
#65 Magic Leap 19
#66 Carl Zeiss Smt Gmbh 18
#67 Furukawa Electric Co. 18
#68 Kantatsu Co. 18
#69 Osterhout Group 18
#70 RTX (Raytheon) 18
#71 The Boeing 17
#72 NVIDIA 16
#73 Dai Nippon Printing Co. 15
#74 Elenion Technologies 15
#75 Funai Electric Co. 15
#76 Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. 15
#77 Adc Telecommunications (Shanghai) Distribution Co. 14
#78 MIT 14
#79 Nec 14
#80 Nlt Technologies 14
#81 Thalmic Labs 14
#82 View 14
#83 Cisco 14
#84 CEA 13
#85 Omnivision Technologies 13
#86 Photonics Electronics Technology Research Association 13
#87 Senko Advanced Components 13
#88 Stmicroelectronics Sa 13
#89 University of California 13
#90 Young Lighting Technology 13
#91 Lockheed Martin 13
#92 Afl Telecommunications 12
#93 Chengdu Boe Optoelectronics Technology Co. 12
#94 Fraunhofer 12
#95 Fujitsu Component Limited 12
#96 ITRI 12
#97 Koniniklijke Philips N.V. 12
#98 Renesas Electronics 12
#99 Shanghai Tianma Micro-Electronics Co. 12
#100 Tdk Taiwan 12