Automated Test Equipment for SoC Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Automated test equipment patents for SoC: who holds the claim space and where it is still open
Concentrated but not locked up. the five leading assignees hold 25.1% of all 5,347 records in scope, and the ranked ten hold 34.2% — a large field with no single gatekeeper. Annual filings rose from 129 in 2017 to a peak of 157 in 2023, then eased to 122 in 2024 — a 12% decline over the 2021-to-2024 span using the last complete years. 2025 and 2026 show far fewer records (down to 9 in 2026), but that reflects the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication, not a sudden stop in filing activity.
- 1ADVANTEST CORP8.5%
- 2INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION6.7%
- 3TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INC4.4%
- 4INTEL CORP3.3%
- 5CADENCE DESIGN SYST INC2.3%
See the full automated test equipment for soc 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 this landscape
Who are the leading patent holders in automated test equipment for SoC?
The ranked leader holds 454 records against a fifth-place figure of 122 and a tenth-place figure of 82, so there is a clear leader followed by a steep drop-off rather than a gradual taper. The top five combined hold 25.1% of all 5,347 records in scope, and the top ten hold 34.2% — concentrated at the top but with a long tail of over ninety other ranked assignees behind them. The field includes dedicated ATE vendors, EDA software firms and large chipmakers rather than being dominated by one industry segment.
Is patent filing in ATE for SoC growing or shrinking?
Filing rose from 129 records in 2017 to a peak of 157 in 2023, then eased to 122 in 2024 — a 12% decline over that 2021-to-2024 span using complete-year data. The much lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 are not a real collapse: publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent one to two years are always undercounted in any patent trend. Treat the 2024 figure, not the raw 2026 figure, as the best recent read on activity.
What technology areas dominate ATE patent claims?
Electric and magnetic measurement (IPC class G01R) appears in 62.0% of the 5,347 records in scope, and digital data processing (G06F) in 42.5% — together the two dominant clusters. Memory-specific test (G11C) and semiconductor device structure (H01L) form smaller secondary clusters at 11.2% and 8.5% respectively. Control and regulating systems (G05B) and general semiconductor devices (H10D) sit under 3% each, marking them as comparatively thin claim areas relative to the measurement and data-processing core.
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 Automated Test Equipment for SoC 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.