DPMA publishes a statistical analysis of digital technology invention patents in 2024, and Taiwan TSMC is the fourth-largest applicant in the semiconductor field

In March 2025, the German Patent and Trademark Office (DPMA) published a statistical analysis report on the number of digital technology invention patents published in 2024. This report does not repeatedly count the invention patents published by DPMA and the European Patent Office (EPO) in Germany, because patent applications are usually published after 18 months, this report does not include the analysis of newly submitted invention patent applications in 2024.

After lagging behind in digital technology innovation for many years, Germany's number of domestic invention patents published by German companies rebounded in 2024, up 6.6% from 2023, totaling 4,494, ranking fifth; among the top three countries/regions, the United States once again ranked first with 14,973 (-5.3%), followed by mainland China with 8,900 (-11.4%) and Japan with 5,405 (+0.6%); South Korea ranked fourth with 5,188, an increase of 12.8%.