Acoustic Wave Filter Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Acoustic wave filter patents for RF front ends: who leads and where filing is headed
Concentrated but not locked up. The five leading assignees hold 28.4% of all 12,308 records in scope, and the top ten hold 36.8% — leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants. Annual records climbed from 535 in 2017 to a peak of 805 in 2022. The subsequent decline is measurable through 2024, the last year treated as largely complete: 654 records in 2021 fell to 480 in 2024, a 27% drop over that three-year span. Years after 2024 are still accumulating publications and should not be read as a continued slide.
- 1MURATA MFG CO LTD14.3%
- 2SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS INC5.7%
- 3SEIKO EPSON CORP3.7%
- 4TAIYO YUDEN KK2.5%
- 5QORVO US INC2.3%
See the full acoustic wave filters for rf front ends analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about acoustic wave filter patents
Who holds the most patents on acoustic wave filters for RF front ends?
One assignee leads clearly with 1,755 records in this 12,308-record dataset, well ahead of fifth place at 280 and tenth place at 165. The top five assignees combined hold 28.4% of all records, and the top ten hold 36.8%, which means well over 60% of filing activity is spread across a long tail of smaller filers. This concentration pattern is typical of a mature RF component category where a handful of device makers dominate volume but many niche players still hold specific process or design patents.
Is filing activity for acoustic wave filters growing or slowing down?
Filing volume grew from 535 records in 2017 to a peak of 805 in 2022, then declined to 480 by 2024, a drop of 27% over the 2021-2024 window. 2024 is the most recent year with a largely complete count; 2025 and 2026 figures are still understated because patent publication typically lags filing by about 18 months. So the honest read is that the field has cooled from its 2022 high, but it is too early to call the trend beyond 2024 a continued decline.
What is the difference between BAW and SAW filter patent claims in this dataset?
This landscape does not separate BAW and SAW into distinct counted categories, but the underlying search terms and the representative record show both technologies are frequently claimed together, including hybrid structures that stack a bulk acoustic wave resonator on a surface acoustic wave device. The IPC composition data shows H03H (impedance networks & filters) covering 67.4% of records, indicating most claims center on the filter circuit itself rather than distinguishing fabrication technique. Readers comparing BAW versus SAW positions should expect overlap rather than a clean split in the patent literature.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Acoustic Wave Filters for RF Front Ends covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.