On August 27, 2025, China’s National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) released its 2024 Annual Report (2024 年度报告). The Report summarizes actions taken by CNIPA is 2024 as well as 2024 statistics. For example, CNIPA states that the “Guidelines for Patent Applications Related to Artificial Intelligence” and the “Implementation Plan for a Unified Recognition System for Geographical Indications” were issued. Further, the newly revised “Implementing Regulations of the Patent Law” and the “Patent Examination Guidelines” were thoroughly publicized and implemented.

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Some highlights of the Report include:

• The average examination period for invention patents was shortened to 15.5 months, and the average examination period for trademark registrations remained stable at 4 months, both reaching the international fastest rates under the same examination system.
• The examination system for clearly lacking inventiveness in utility model patents and clearly distinguishing between design patents and utility model patents has been implemented.
• China now has 4.756 million domestic valid invention patents, making it the first country in the world to exceed 4 million.
• Applications for PCT international patents, Madrid international trademarks, and Hague design patents all rank among the highest in the world.
• We increased the scale of prioritized examinations. In 2024, a total of 218,000 patent applications were prioritized, including 216,000 invention patent applications, a year-on-year increase of 57.6%.

The top 10 Chinese invention patent grantees in 2024 were:

1. Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (腾讯科技(深圳)有限公司) – 4,211 patents
2. Gree Electric Appliances Inc. of Zhuhai (珠海格力电器股份有限公司) – 4,092 patents
3. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) (中国石油化工股份有限公司) – 3,903 patents
4. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (华为技术有限公司) – 3,721 patents
5. Honor Device Co., Ltd. (荣耀终端有限公司) – 2,577 patents
6. Ping An Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (平安科技(深圳)有限公司) – 2,573 patents
7. OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. (OPPO广东移动通信有限公司) – 2,490 patents
8. BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. (京东方科技集团股份有限公司) – 2,435 patents
9. Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (北京百度网讯科技有限公司) – 2,420 patents
10. Vivo Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. (维沃移动通信有限公司) – 2,006

The top 10 foreign Chinese invention patent grantees were predominantly Asian including:

1. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (三星电子株式会社) – 3,229 patents
2. Qualcomm Incorporated (高通股份有限公司) – 2,656 patents
3. Toyota Motor Corporation (丰田自动车株式会社) – 1,659 patents
4. Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (三星显示有限公司) – 1,260 patents
5. Robert Bosch GmbH (罗伯特·博世有限公司) – 1,230 patents
6. Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (本田技研工业株式会社) – 1,038 patents
7. Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. (松下知识产权经营株式会社) – 1,024 patents
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (三菱电机株式会社) – 1,021 patents
9. Hyundai Motor Company (现代自动车株式会社) – 949 patents
10. Apple Inc. (苹果公司) – 930 patents

The number of U.S.-origin Chinese invention patent applications continued their downward trend year-on-year by 1.9% hitting 39,584 invention patent applications. The most recent peak was in 2022 with 43,090 invention patent applications. Foreign-origin invention patent applications were essentially flat with an increase of about 0.4% to 156,053 invention patent applications. Japan remained the top foreign filer into China with 45,201 invention patent applications.

1. Japan: 45,201 invention patent applications
2. United States: 39,584 invention patent applications
3. South Korea: 21,040 invention patent applications
4. Germany: 16,285 invention patent applications
5. Switzerland: 5,369 invention patent applications

The full 2024 Report is available here (Chinese only). Previous Reports in English are available here.