Geneva, 10 July 2026 — The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has published the PCT Yearly Review 2026: The International Patent System, reporting that 275,900 international patent applications were filed via the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) in 2025. This represents a modest increase of 0.7% over the previous year and marks the second consecutive year of slight growth after a period of stagnation.
The report provides a comprehensive analysis of international patent filing activity for 2025 and reveals a landscape where Asia's dominance continues to expand, digital communication and computer technology lead innovation fields, and the gender gap among inventors persists despite gradual progress.
Key Numbers for 2025
| Metric | 2025 Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Total PCT applications | 275,900 | +0.7% |
| Countries of origin | 129 | +5 |
| Top technology field share (digital communication) | 11.1% | +0.6 pp |
| Share of women inventors | 18.1% | +0.2 pp |
| PCT national phase entries (2024 data) | 645,100 | –3.7% |
Geographic Distribution: Asia's Ascendancy
Asian countries accounted for 57% of all PCT applications in 2025, up markedly from 43.5% in 2015. This shift has been driven largely by increased filings from China and the Republic of Korea. Europe held the second-largest share at 21.6%, followed by Northern America at 20%. By contrast, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania together represented just 1.4% of total PCT filings.
China remained the leading country of origin for PCT filings, with 73,718 applications, followed by the United States (52,617), Japan (47,922), the Republic of Korea (25,016), and Germany (16,441). Collectively, these top five origins accounted for 78.2% of all PCT applications.
Among the top 20 origins, Finland (+43.8%) and Singapore (+12.9%) posted the only double-digit increases, while India (–32.4%), Israel (–7%), and Switzerland (–6.3%) registered the steepest declines. Among the top five, filings grew in China (+5.3%) and the Republic of Korea (+4.9%), but fell in the US (–3%), Germany (–1.8%), and Japan (–1%) — each marking a third consecutive year of decline.
Top Applicants: Huawei Leads for Ninth Year
Huawei Technologies (China) maintained its position as the top PCT applicant for the ninth consecutive year, with 7,523 published applications in 2025. Samsung Electronics (Republic of Korea) followed with 4,698 applications, trailed by Qualcomm (US, 3,227), LG Electronics (Republic of Korea, 2,400), and Contemporary Amperex Technology (China, 2,203).
Half of the top 10 applicants experienced double-digit growth in published PCT applications. LG Energy Solution (+34.8%), Panasonic (+21.9%), and LG Electronics (+15.2%) exhibited the fastest growth — a pattern that reflects the surging importance of battery and energy storage technologies.
Among educational institutions, the University of California remained the most active PCT user with 488 published applications, followed by Tsinghua University (227) and the University of Texas (226). Universities from nine countries featured in the top 50, with the US holding 24 spots.
Technology Fields: Digital Communication and AI Lead
Digital communication remained the leading technology field in 2025, representing 11.1% of all PCT applications. It was followed by computer technology including AI (9.6%), electrical machinery (9%), medical technology (6.3%), and pharmaceuticals (4.3%). Together, these top five fields accounted for 40.3% of the total.
Among the top 10 technology fields, digital communication (+6.1%), semiconductors (+6.1%), and electrical machinery (+4.6%) saw the sharpest increases. By contrast, measurement (–4.2%), biotechnology (–3.9%), and medical technology (–3%) recorded the steepest declines.
The electrical engineering sector accounted for 41.1% of all published PCT applications, up from 35% in 2015 — the largest increase in share of any sector over the past decade.
Gender Gap: Slow Progress
In 2025, women accounted for 18.1% of all inventors named in PCT applications, a modest increase of 0.2 percentage points compared with 2024. Over the past 15 years, the share of women inventors has risen by 6.7 percentage points in total.
Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the highest share at 24.5%, followed by Asia (18.8%), Northern America (18.2%), Africa (18.1%), Oceania (16.7%), and Europe (16.3%). Technology fields relating to the life sciences had comparatively high shares of women inventors, with women representing more than one-quarter of inventors in analysis of biological materials, biotechnology, food chemistry, organic fine chemistry, and pharmaceuticals.
National Phase Entries Decline
The report also includes data on PCT national phase entries (NPEs) for 2024, the latest year available. About 645,100 NPEs were initiated worldwide, a 3.7% decline from 2023 and the second consecutive year of decline. NPEs accounted for 53.3% of all non-resident patent applications filed globally, down 2.3 percentage points from the previous year.
The US initiated the most NPEs (178,256), followed by Japan (124,639), China (66,039), Germany (47,444), and the Republic of Korea (39,155). Among the top 10 origins, only the Netherlands (+1.5%) and China (+0.1%) initiated slightly more NPEs in 2024 than in the previous year.
Innovation Clusters
The top 50 PCT geographic clusters accounted for 63% of all PCT applications published between 2021 and 2025. Tokyo–Yokohama remained the largest cluster with 132,669 applications (10.1% of the total), followed by Shenzhen–Hong Kong–Guangzhou (9.2%), Seoul (5.6%), Beijing (4.1%), and San Jose–San Francisco (3.8%). Together, these five clusters accounted for nearly one-third of all PCT applications.
Sources
- WIPO, PCT Yearly Review 2026: Executive Summary —
- WIPO PCT Newsletter, June 2026 —
- WIPO PCT Highlights —
- Full report via WIPO Knowledge Repository —
FIRAT Editorial Board
Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
The collective editorial and research translation board of FIRAT, synthesising peer-reviewed evidence, policy briefs, and division milestones across our seven foundational research pillars.
