Quantum Computing Patent Analysis

UK company RS Components has performed a patent analysis of international quantum computing patent applications dating back to 1998. They started with the Patentscope data base collected by the World Intellectual Property Organization and searched for all applications that included the keyword "Quantum Computing". The search was performed on October 17, 2019 and they found a total of 5,512 patents at that time. We summarize the highlights of the data below, however, there are a few caveats that we should mention.  First, a patent application is not the same as a patent granted.  Some applications are rejected because of prior art or other reasons.  Second, you may find some names on the list, such as Elwha LLC, that you may not recognize.  These are companies that collect or purchase patents with a business model of licensing them later on. (These companies are sometimes called "Patent Trolls").  And finally, there may be some cases where the words "Quantum Computing" are contained in the patent application, but they are used in a different context than the quantum computing that we are familiar with.  You can view RS Components' complete data set here and their comments on the patent analysis here.

Top 50 Applicants for Quantum Computing for the Period

Applicant (1-25)Number of Patent Applications Applicant (26-50)Number of Patent ApplicationsMicrosoft Corporation425 Alibaba Group Holding Limited20Elwha LLC332 Board of Regents, The University of Texas System20D WAVE SYSTEMS INC307 Experian Marketing Solutions, Inc20INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP296 ISARA Corporation20Intel Corporation242 NewSouth Innovations Pty Limited20Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation143 HITACHI LTD19GOOGLE INC125 1QB Information Technologies Inc17Marvell Technology Group118 3M INNOVATIVE PROPERTIES Company17HEWLETT PACKARD CO87 Seiko Epson Corporation17Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba52 The Trustees of Boston College17NVIDIA CORP49 CFPH, LLC16President & Fellows of Harvard College48 Digital Doors, Inc16RIGETTI & CO INC46 KOVIO INC16Massachusetts Institute of Technology45 MagiQ Technologies, Inc16The Boeing Company45 Paul Holman16ELEMENT SIX (UK) LIMITED33 Accenture Global Solutions Limited13SOURCE PHOTONICS (CHENGDU) CO, LTD32 Oxford University Innovation Limited13QUCOR PTY LIMITED28 RAYTHEON CO13The Regents of the University of California25 Sony Coorporation13ELLIS FRAMPTON E24 LUTNICK HOWARD W12SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD23 North Carolina State University12Bank of America Corporation22 YALE UNIVERSITY12PsiQuantum Corp22 MATSUSHITA ELECTRIC INDUSTRIAL CO, LTD11Royce A Levien22 The Regents of the University of Michigan11PURE STORAGE INC21 JAPAN SCIENCE & TECH AGENCY10

Total Number of Patent Applications by Year

Application YearNumber of Patent Applications19981219992220002720017420021092003157200421220052552006247200720220082542009186201016920111672012287201335320143502015432201658120176192018558

February 25, 2020