Chiplet Integration Patent Landscape 2026
Chiplet Integration Patent Landscape in 2026
Chiplet integration has reached a mature, plateau phase with 2,187 patent families in scope, dominated by a concentrated tier of U.S.-headquartered companies and foundries. Monolithic 3D Inc holds the largest position, but TSMC and Intel are both posting accelerating recent momentum, signaling continued competitive intensity at the frontier.
Monolithic 3D leads a concentrated field; TSMC and Intel are gaining ground
Monolithic 3D Inc holds the top position with 283 patent families, followed closely by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (211) and Intel Corp. (208), forming a tight leading trio. IBM (156) and the University of Illinois (122) round out the top five.
The top five filers account for 39% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers — a level of concentration that signals meaningful barriers but leaves room for challengers. A secondary tier, including Raytheon, the University of California, and Applied Materials, occupies the 50–70 family range before the field disperses sharply.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Monolithic 3D Inc | 283 | |
| 2 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 211 | |
| 3 | Intel Corporation | 208 | |
| 4 | International Business Machines Corporation | 156 | |
| 5 | The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | 122 | |
| 6 | Raytheon Company | 68 | |
| 7 | The Regents of the University of California | 62 | |
| 8 | Applied Materials, Inc. | 51 | |
| 9 | Shanghai Yibu Semiconductor Co., Ltd. | 49 | |
| 10 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 43 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | HRL Laboratories, LLC | 42 | |
| 12 | Tokyo Electron Limited | 37 | |
| 13 | imec | 34 | |
| 14 | ASML Netherlands B.V. | 31 | |
| 15 | Board of Regents, The University of Texas System | 31 | |
| 16 | Resonac Corporation | 30 | |
| 17 | Synopsys, Inc. | 27 | |
| 18 | X-FAB France SAS | 26 | |
| 19 | GlobalFoundries US Inc. | 26 | |
| 20 | OpenLight Photonics, Inc. | 25 |
Monolithic 3D’s lead reflects a focused, deep body of work in 3D semiconductor stacking; TSMC and Intel’s large and growing positions indicate that leading-edge foundry and IDM players view chiplet IP as strategically critical to their process roadmaps. The presence of multiple universities and national laboratories in the top twenty underscores the field’s roots in publicly funded research.
Patent counts for 2024 and 2025 are likely understated due to typical 18–24 month publication lags; trend readings for those years should be treated with caution. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filing activity plateaued after a 2021 surge; semiconductor device IP dominates the technology mix
Annual filing volume expanded steadily through 2017–2020 before a pronounced surge in 2021, after which activity has stabilized near that elevated level. The technology composition is overwhelmingly anchored in core semiconductor device classes, with a long tail of adjacent branches.
Annual filing trend
Filings climbed from 171 in 2017 to a peak of 362 in 2021, then settled to the 327–331 range in 2022–2023. The apparent declines in 2024 and 2025 reflect publication lag rather than a genuine slowdown — those years should be interpreted as incomplete. The overall multi-year growth of 17% confirms the field remains at an elevated activity level relative to its pre-2021 baseline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (semiconductor devices) dominates with 3,178 records, establishing it as the near-universal classification for chiplet work. Memory device manufacture (H10B, 260) and static/digital memories (G11C, 203) are the next-largest branches, followed by optical elements (G02B, 115) and printed circuits (H05K, 108), pointing to active intersections with photonics and advanced packaging. Classes related to MEMS, organic semiconductors, and AI computing appear in the lower tail, reflecting exploratory rather than mature activity.
↗ 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.
HETEROGENEOUS INTEGRATION CAPACITOR AND MoM CAPACI…
A heterogeneous integration capacitor and a metal-oxide-metal (MoM) capacitor are provided. The heterogeneous integration capacitor has a first electrode and a second electrode, and includes a substrate, a semiconductor capacitor, the MoM capacitor, and a metal-insulator-metal (MiM) capacitor. These capacitors are sequentially formed on the substrate, and… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Methods and devices for fabricating and assembling… | 1,134 |
| 2 | Methods and apparatus of wafer level package for h… | 1,033 |
| 3 | Stretchable semiconductor elements and stretchable… | 906 |
| 4 | Printed Assemblies of Ultrathin, Microscale Inorga… | 849 |
| 5 | Stretchable semiconductor elements and stretchable… | 523 |
| 6 | Pattern transfer printing by kinetic control of ad… | 461 |
| 7 | Printable semiconductor structures and related met… | 460 |
| 8 | Controlled buckling structures in semiconductor in… | 448 |
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 landscape’s maturity, concentration, and cross-institutional collaboration patterns each carry distinct implications for teams deciding where to focus engineering resources and IP strategy.
Field is at plateau maturity — further differentiation requires depth, not breadth
Annual filings peaked in 2021 and have since plateaued near that level, placing chiplet integration in a mature stage. The multi-year growth of 17% confirms the field is still meaningfully active, but the era of rapid land-grabbing appears to have passed. New entrants must pursue highly specific technical niches to find defensible white space rather than competing on volume.
Plateau phaseTop-five filers hold 39% of the leading hundred — high but not locked
The top five filers account for 39% of the combined output of the hundred largest filers, indicating a concentrated but not monopolized field. A secondary tier of 10–15 active applicants, including national labs and universities, creates a competitive dynamic where coalition-building or licensing from the second tier may be more accessible than challenging the top three directly. The tier gap between rank 5 and rank 6 (122 vs. 68 families) is the sharpest structural discontinuity to note.
Moderate-high concentrationUniversity-to-industry co-filing is the dominant partnership pattern
The most active co-filing pair is the University of Illinois and Tufts College (8 joint families), reflecting foundational materials and flexible-electronics research. IBM co-files frequently with its own international subsidiaries (IBM China, IBM UK, IBM Germany — 7, 6, and 3 joint families respectively), indicating a coordinated global IP strategy. The University of Illinois also co-files with Sanno (4) and the University of Arizona (4), and the University of California co-files with Stanford (4), suggesting a western U.S. academic cluster. Raytheon co-files with the University of California (2), linking defense and academic research.
Academic-industry co-filingU.S. filing dominance is pronounced; Asia-Pacific coverage is a gap for non-U.S. players
The United States accounts for 1,847 filing records, far ahead of WIPO PCT (346), Europe (282), and China (212). Taiwan (154) and Japan (59) reflect significant regional activity, consistent with the foundry and OSAT ecosystems in those markets. The relatively modest China footprint — despite the presence of Shanghai Yibu Semiconductor in the top ten applicants — may represent a strategic exposure worth monitoring for U.S. and European IP holders.
U.S.-centric filingGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | Trustees of Tufts College | 8 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM China Co., Ltd. | 7 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM UNITED KINGDOM LTD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPAR… | 6 |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | Sanno Co., Ltd. | 4 |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona | 4 |
| The Regents of the University of California | The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University | 4 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM DEUTSCHLAND GMBH | 3 |
| The Regents of the University of California | W. L. Gore & Associates | 3 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | IBM ISRAEL SCI & TECH LTD | 2 |
| Raytheon Company | The Regents of the University of California | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Monolithic 3D leads on depth; TSMC and Intel accelerating on process-integration routes
The top two players represent distinct strategic profiles: a pure-play 3D-stacking IP house versus a leading foundry and a major IDM, both of whom are growing their chiplet IP at pace.
Monolithic 3D Inc
Monolithic 3D Inc holds 283 patent families — the largest position in the landscape — with coverage concentrated entirely across H01L semiconductor device subclasses (H01L 27, H01L 23, H01L 21). Its recent filing trend is essentially flat at +3%, suggesting a mature, consolidated portfolio rather than an aggressive expansion phase. Its depth of coverage in 3D monolithic integration makes it the most significant licensing and freedom-to-operate consideration for any entrant in vertical chiplet stacking.
families: 283Intel Corp
Intel holds 208 patent families and is the fastest-growing of the leading three, with recent filings up +35% against its prior three-year base. Its technology focus spans H01L 21 (process), H01L 23 (packaging/interconnect), and H01L 25 (multi-chip assemblies) — a profile consistent with chiplet disaggregation and heterogeneous integration across its Foveros and EMIB platforms. TSMC (211 families, +11% recent trend) is a near-equivalent challenger with a near-identical IPC profile, making process and packaging interconnect the most contested sub-domain in the field.
families: 208| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Monolithic 3D Inc | 99 | ▬ +3% |
| Intel Corporation | 70 | ▲ +35% |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 71 | ▲ +11% |
| International Business Machines Corporation | 36 | ▼ -56% |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | 1 | ▲ new entrant |
| Raytheon Company | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| The Regents of the University of California | 9 | ▼ -50% |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 28 | ▲ +47% |
Under-served branches at the chiplet boundary: memory integration and photonics
Relative to the dominant H01L core, several adjacent IPC branches carry meaningful technical relevance to chiplet integration but remain sparse in absolute coverage, making them worth monitoring as potential differentiation areas.
H10B · Memory Device Manufacture
With 260 records, memory device manufacture is the second-largest branch in the landscape but holds only a 5% share of total records — sparse given that near-memory and in-package memory are central to chiplet-based AI and HPC architectures. The intersection of chiplet packaging with DRAM and NAND manufacturing process IP is technically rich and commercially relevant (HBM stacking being the clearest example), yet few applicants have built broad coverage here. Teams with process expertise in memory fabrication may find a relatively open lane for differentiated IP.
Search this in Eureka →G02B · Optical Elements & Systems
Optical elements and systems (G02B) accounts for 115 records — just 2% of total records — despite the growing role of silicon photonics and optical interconnects as a chiplet integration strategy for bandwidth-dense applications. The presence of OpenLight Photonics in the top-20 applicant list confirms the technical direction is active, but the branch remains thinly populated relative to its likely long-term importance. The entry path for photonics-capable teams is plausible: co-packaging laser and waveguide IP with standard H01L packaging claims could build a defensible position before larger players consolidate this space.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by technology sub-route
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 23 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 25 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monolithic 3D Inc | Strong · 210 | Strong · 213 | Strong · 223 | Strong · 122 | Strong · 127 |
| Intel Corporation | Strong · 177 | Strong · 136 | Emerging · 28 | Strong · 90 | Moderate · 63 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | Strong · 187 | Strong · 179 | Absent | Moderate · 93 | Emerging · 24 |
| International Business Machines Corporation | Strong · 172 | Strong · 112 | Moderate · 51 | Moderate · 48 | Emerging · 28 |
| The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois | Strong · 98 | Moderate · 48 | Moderate · 33 | Moderate · 21 | Strong · 56 |
| Raytheon Company | Strong · 48 | Strong · 26 | Strong · 31 | Moderate · 16 | Absent |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | Strong · 51 | Strong · 45 | Absent | Moderate · 18 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The current scope covers 2,187 patent families globally. This total reflects filings where patent publication lag means 2024 and 2025 figures are likely understated.
Monolithic 3D Inc leads with 283 patent families, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (211) and Intel Corp. (208). IBM (156) and the University of Illinois (122) complete the top five.
The field has reached a plateau maturity stage. Annual filings peaked at 362 in 2021 and have since stabilized at the 327–331 range. The multi-year recent growth stands at 17%, indicating the field remains active at an elevated level, but the rapid expansion phase has passed.
The United States is the dominant filing jurisdiction with 1,847 records, well ahead of WIPO PCT (346), Europe (282), China (212), and Taiwan (154). Coverage in China and South Korea is relatively thin given the scale of semiconductor manufacturing activity in those markets.
The most-cited works in the corpus include foundational patents on methods for fabricating and assembling microscale devices (1,134 citations), wafer-level packaging methods (1,033 citations), stretchable semiconductor elements (906 and 523 citations), and printed assemblies of ultrathin inorganic semiconductor elements (849 citations). These high-citation documents point to flexible and printable semiconductor assembly as a foundational technical thread.
The sparsest technically relevant branches relative to the dominant H01L core include memory device manufacture (H10B, 5% share), static and digital memories (G11C, 4% share), and optical elements and systems (G02B, 2% share). Near-memory chiplet packaging and silicon photonics co-packaging are the two sub-domains with the clearest combination of sparse coverage and plausible technical entry paths.
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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.
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