Power GaN patenting in Q2 2026
KnowMade’s Q2 2026 Lateral Power GaN Patent Monitor reveals a quarter led by industrial patent assignees, while several Chinese universities maintained a strong presence in GaN power device innovation.
Around 500 patent families were published in the power GaN patent landscape during Q2 2026, and approximately 300 patent families received a grant for the first time. At the individual patent level, around 800 new patents were granted. Meanwhile, close to 120 patent families had patents that expired or were abandoned by their assignees.
Assignees focused their patent protection efforts primarily on China and the United States. 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.
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, approximately 70 percent of them being Chinese companies. Roughly 75 percent of newcomers entered through circuits and applications, the most downstream part of the power GaN supply chain. This includes all identified newcomers from the United States — four companies and one state-backed organisation — and Europe — two universities and three companies.
