Infographic: Huawei Is Leading The 5G Patent Race

Who leads the global race for 5G? One way of answering this question is by analyzing the number of patents held or applied for by different companies. With more than 2,100 patent applications filed and 608 (28 percent) granted, Chinese manufacturer Huawei took first place in the 2019 ranking compiled by IPlytics.

As the patenting process can take several years, this statistic reflects the fact that a large proportion of Huawei's filings are recent. Finnish company Nokia has a large share of its patents already granted – but this could also mean they haven’t filed many recently.

Manufacturers from South Korea, a country where 5G was implemented faster than almost anywhere else, also make the list and also have had a majority of their patents already granted. Chinese provider ZTE is new to the game, with only a fraction of patents granted.