On June 8, 2022, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) announced that their Intellectual Property Development Research Center completed a 5G standard essential patent (SEP) report showing that China ranks first in the world for declared 5G SEP families. Per the report there are currently more than 210,000 5G standard-essential patents declared globally, involving nearly 47,000 patents. Among them, China has declared more than 18,000 patent families, accounting for nearly 40%, ranking first in the world.   Huawei has declared more than 6,500 5G standard essential patent families, accounting for 14%, ranking first in the world. 

The report states that there are currently 217,749 5G standard-essential patents declared globally, involving a total of 46,879 patent families, of which China has declared 18,728 families, ranking first, accounting for 39.9%, and the United States has declared 16,206 families, ranking second, accounting for 34.6%. Other top-ranking countries or regions include South Korea (4,293 families, accounting for 9.2%), Japan (3,736 families, accounting for 8%) and Europe (1,833 families, accounting for 3.9%).

Per the report, among the top 15 patent applicants in the world, the United States, Japan, Europe, and South Korea each have 2 spots while Chinese companies occupy 7 spots.

Note this contrasts significantly with a report issued by the USPTO in February 2022 finding no one company is dominating 5G. However, the USPTO report only examined triadic (patent filings in the USPTO, EPO, and JPO) family flings of ETSI-declared 5G patenting activity ignoring CNIPA, which is the largest patent office in the world by filings and represents the second largest economy by GDP.

Also note the actual report does not appear to be publicly available. The announcement is available here (Chinese only).