News: Microelectronics
7 October 2026
Power GaN patenting in Q2/2026 led by industrial assignees, reports KnowMade
KnowMade’s latest Lateral Power GaN Patent Monitor update on inventions, patent grants and emerging players across the power gallium nitride (GaN) supply chain shows that second-quarter 2026 was led by industrial patent assignees, while several Chinese universities maintained a strong presence in GaN power device innovation.
About 500 power GaN inventions published in Q2
During Q2/2026, about 500 patent families were published in the power GaN patent landscape and about 300 patent families received a grant for the first time. At the individual patent level, about 800 new patents were granted. Meanwhile, nearly 120 patent families had patents that expired or were abandoned by their assignees.
Assignees focused their patent protection efforts primarily on China and the USA. Europe and South Korea also showed positive filing dynamics during the quarter, in contrast with Japan and Taiwan.
Across the supply chain, newly published inventions concentrated on power GaN devices, particularly enhancement-mode transistors, and on circuits and applications incorporating these devices. Thermal management remained a recurring technical theme, spanning wafers, devices, packaging, modules and circuits.
Picture: Newly published and newly granted patent families; bubble size represents the patent families analyzed during the quarter.
Power GaN patent landscape: leading companies and newcomers in Q2
In power GaN devices, Innoscience stood out for its newly published and newly granted inventions. Measured by the number of individual patents newly granted during the quarter however, Innoscience, Texas Instruments and Samsung reached similar levels. Among academic assignees, UESTC and Xidian University showed strong device IP activity. UESTC has also recently accelerated its filings related to circuits and applications.
Upstream, WaveLord led wafer and epiwafer activity by both newly published and newly granted patent families. Its number of newly granted individual patents also placed it ahead of Soitec, Taiwan-Asia Semiconductor and Siltronic in this segment.
In packaging and modules, Nexperia and Mitsubishi Electric shared the lead in newly published and newly granted patent families. Further downstream, automotive companies were prominent among the most active assignees for circuits and applications, including General Motors, Volkswagen, Marelli and Bosch, alongside Infineon.
The landscape also gained around 100 new entrants, about 70% of them being Chinese companies. Roughly 75% of newcomers entered through circuits and applications, the most downstream part of the power GaN supply chain. This includes all identified newcomers from the USA (four companies and one state-backed organization) and Europe (two universities and three companies).
KnowMade highlights scaling of GaN-based architectures for strategic markets
