Advanced Manufacturing Technology Patent Landscape 2026
Advanced Manufacturing Technology Patent Landscape in 2026
The advanced manufacturing patent space is dominated by additive manufacturing (3D printing) and is moderately concentrated, with General Electric and its affiliates holding the top positions. Annual filing volume peaked in 2020 and has since eased, signaling a maturing field where early platform positions are consolidating.
General Electric entities lead a moderately concentrated field
General Electric Co ranks first with 95 patent families, followed closely by GE Infrastructure Tech LLC (84 patent families) and Carbon Inc (67 patent families), making GE-affiliated entities the single most dominant force in this landscape.
The top five filers account for 25% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating moderate concentration with a meaningful tier gap between the The Boeing Co (56 patent families) and Trio Labs Inc (50 patent families).
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Electric Company | 95 | |
| 2 | GE Infrastructure Technology LLC | 84 | |
| 3 | Carbon Inc | 67 | |
| 4 | General Electric Technology GmbH | 58 | |
| 5 | The Boeing Company | 56 | |
| 6 | Trio Labs Inc | 50 | |
| 7 | 3M Innovative Properties Company | 45 | |
| 8 | BAE Systems PLC | 43 | |
| 9 | Signify Holding BV | 37 | |
| 10 | Warsaw Orthopedic Inc | 37 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | 34 | |
| 12 | Stratasys Inc | 33 | |
| 13 | Strong Force VCN Portfolio 2019 LLC | 32 | |
| 14 | Ricoh Company Ltd | 27 | |
| 15 | University of Washington | 24 | |
| 16 | Nikon Corporation | 22 | |
| 17 | Prismlab China Ltd | 21 | |
| 18 | Johnson Matthey PLC | 21 | |
| 19 | The North Face Apparel Corp | 19 | |
| 20 | Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) | 18 |
GE’s breadth across additive manufacturing processes, powder metallurgy, and turbine applications suggests a vertically integrated platform strategy, while challengers tend to occupy narrower application niches such as medical implants, plastics shaping, or defense.
Filings from approximately 2024 onward are under-represented due to standard patent publication lag and should not be read as a structural shift in competitive activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2020 and the technology mix is overwhelmingly additive manufacturing
Two structural features define this landscape: a filing trend that rose sharply to a 2020 peak and has since declined, and a technology composition anchored almost entirely in additive manufacturing and closely related materials processing branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew from 187 families in 2017 to a peak of 271 in 2020, then declined through 2022 before a partial recovery in 2023. Figures for 2024–2026 are materially under-counted due to publication lag and do not represent the true recent activity level.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
B33Y (additive manufacturing / 3D printing) is the overwhelmingly dominant branch, followed by B29C (shaping of plastics) and B22F (powder metallurgy). Digital and control branches — G06F, G05B, and G06N — are present but account for a much smaller share, pointing to a hardware-process-led rather than software-led corpus.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Copolymer for use in a digital manufacturing process
Copolymers for use in a digital manufacturing process, in particular support materials for use in a digital manufacturing process comprising such copolymers. More particularly, the invention is directed to a copolymer, a support material based on the the copolymer, the use of the copolymer in a digital manufacturing process, a method for preparing the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Implant device and method for manufacture | 336 |
| 2 | Reticulated mesh arrays and dissimilar array monol… | 280 |
| 3 | Coextruded, multilayer and multicomponent 3D print… | 258 |
| 4 | System and method for closed-loop control of laser… | 193 |
| 5 | Implant Device and Method for Manufacture | 178 |
| 6 | Laser-based system for memory link processing with… | 158 |
| 7 | Method and apparatus for wire handling and embeddi… | 144 |
| 8 | Devices and Methods for Additive Manufacturing of … | 136 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the competitive structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a post-peak filing trend, established platform players, focused collaboration pairs, and strong US-centric jurisdiction coverage shapes the strategic context for any new entrant or incumbent seeking to expand.
Field is in decline from a 2020 peak
Annual filings peaked at 271 patent families in 2020 and have eased significantly since, consistent with a decline life-cycle stage. This does not mean the technology is obsolete — it reflects that foundational platform patents were filed earlier and incremental differentiation now drives activity. New entrants should audit freedom-to-operate carefully around core additive manufacturing process claims.
Lifecycle: DeclineGE entities hold the top two slots; mid-tier is competitive
The top five filers represent 25% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, a moderate concentration level. GE’s multi-entity presence (General Electric Co, GE Infrastructure Tech LLC, General Electric Tech GmbH) creates an effective portfolio that spans process, materials, and application. Challengers from rank 5 onward — Boeing, Trio Labs, 3M — are separated by meaningful family-count gaps, suggesting a real but not insurmountable barrier.
Moderate concentrationCarbon–Adidas and GE–University of Michigan are the key co-filing pairs
The most active co-filing relationship is between Carbon Inc and Adidas (2 joint families), reflecting a materials-to-consumer-product pathway in polymer additive manufacturing. General Electric Co has one co-filed family with the University of Michigan Board of Regents, indicating selective academic partnership on process fundamentals. The limited number of collaboration records suggests most R&D in this space is conducted proprietary rather than through open consortium structures.
Limited co-filingUS dominates; Europe is a meaningful secondary market
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). Germany, China, Japan, Canada, and India round out the next tier. The relative underrepresentation of China given its manufacturing scale is notable and may reflect strategic decisions about where to seek protection rather than a lack of domestic activity. Any global freedom-to-operate analysis should prioritize US and EPO filings.
US-centricGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| Carbon Inc | Adidas AG | 2 |
| General Electric Company | University of Michigan Board of Regents | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
GE leads on additive process breadth; Mitsubishi Materials and Signify are rising challengers
The applicant ranking is led by GE-affiliated entities with deep process and materials coverage, while newer entrants Signify Holding and Mitsubishi Materials Corp show sharply rising recent momentum from small prior bases.
General Electric Co
General Electric Co holds 95 patent families, the largest single-entity count in the corpus. Its technology focus spans additive manufacturing product development (B33Y 80), additive manufacturing processes (B33Y 10), and powder metallurgy (B22F 3), reflecting a vertically integrated approach from material feedstock through finished turbine components. Recent filing momentum has declined 76% versus its prior three-year period, consistent with the field’s broader post-peak trend.
95 patent familiesMitsubishi Materials Corp
Mitsubishi Materials Corp holds 34 patent families and is classified as a new entrant in the recent period, meaning its recent filings represent activity with no meaningful prior-period baseline in this corpus. Its technology emphasis is on powder metallurgy (B22F 1), additive manufacturing materials (B33Y 70), and copper alloys (C22C 9), positioning it as a materials-supply-chain player rather than a systems integrator. Signify Holding BV (37 patent families) is similarly a new entrant in the recent window, with focus on plastics shaping and additive manufacturing for lighting components.
34 patent families| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| General Electric Company | 17 | ▼ -76% |
| Carbon Inc | 11 | ▼ -81% |
| The Boeing Company | 2 | ▼ -92% |
| Trio Labs Inc | 3 | ▼ -84% |
| 3M Innovative Properties Company | 2 | ▼ -95% |
| Signify Holding BV | 22 | ▲ new entrant |
| Warsaw Orthopedic Inc | 4 | ▼ -79% |
| Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | 34 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served adjacent branches in welding integration and digital process control
Several IPC branches appear at lower relative share within this corpus despite clear technical adjacency to the dominant additive manufacturing core — these represent observations of relative sparsity rather than validated opportunities, but merit evaluation by R&D teams.
B23K · Welding, soldering & brazing integration with additive processes
B23K appears at a 6% share within the top branches, making it the most prominent adjacent branch outside the core additive and plastics groupings. The convergence of directed energy deposition and wire-arc additive manufacturing with traditional welding science is technically well-founded, and the relatively sparse coverage suggests that integrated weld-AM process patents remain underexplored. Teams with welding process expertise could find differentiated entry points, particularly for large-format metal part fabrication.
Search this in Eureka →G05B · Control & regulating systems for closed-loop additive processes
G05B (control and regulating systems) holds a 2% share, low relative to the process-heavy B33Y core. Given that closed-loop process control — real-time feedback, in-situ monitoring, and adaptive layer correction — is widely cited as a key barrier to additive manufacturing quality assurance, the thin patent coverage in this branch is a notable observation. Entry would require combining control-systems expertise with additive process knowledge, and the top-cited patent on closed-loop laser process control already signals that this direction has prior art to navigate.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ across technology routes
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | B33Y 10 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) | B29C 64 · Shaping of plastics | B33Y 30 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) | B33Y 50 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) | B33Y 80 · Additive manufacturing (3D printing) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Electric Company | Strong · 95 | Moderate · 53 | Moderate · 57 | Strong · 67 | Strong · 131 |
| Carbon Inc | Strong · 44 | Strong · 55 | Strong · 30 | Moderate · 17 | Moderate · 23 |
| Trio Labs Inc | Strong · 42 | Strong · 35 | Strong · 42 | Absent | Absent |
| Warsaw Orthopedic Inc | Strong · 24 | Strong · 21 | Strong · 20 | Moderate · 17 | Strong · 37 |
| Signify Holding BV | Strong · 28 | Strong · 33 | Absent | Absent | Strong · 23 |
| The Boeing Company | Strong · 38 | Strong · 21 | Strong · 20 | Absent | Absent |
| BAE Systems PLC | Strong · 36 | Strong · 22 | Moderate · 17 | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The analysis covers 1,518 patent families in the advanced manufacturing technology space, spanning the global patent corpus over the last ten years.
General Electric Co leads with 95 patent families, followed by GE Infrastructure Tech LLC (84 patent families) and Carbon Inc (67 patent families). GE-affiliated entities collectively account for the largest share of the corpus.
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). Germany, China, Japan, Canada, and India are the next most active jurisdictions.
B33Y (additive manufacturing / 3D printing) is the overwhelmingly dominant IPC branch. It is followed by B29C (shaping of plastics) and B22F (powder metallurgy), reflecting the central role of 3D printing processes and associated materials science.
Annual filings peaked in 2020 at 271 patent families and have eased since, placing the field in a decline lifecycle stage. This suggests foundational platform positions are largely established, and new entrants should prioritize freedom-to-operate analysis before investing in core process patents.
Signify Holding BV and Mitsubishi Materials Corp both appear as new entrants in the most recent filing period, indicating they are building positions from a low prior base. All other tracked major filers, including General Electric Co (-76%), Carbon Inc (-81%), and The Boeing Co (-92%), show declining recent momentum consistent with the field’s post-peak phase.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. PatSnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.