GAA Channel / High-k Materials Patent Landscape 2026
The GAA channel and high-k materials patent space is highly concentrated, with TSMC and IBM together accounting for the majority of filings and the top five filers holding 82% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. Annual volume has eased from its 2022 peak, signalling a field at maturity where incumbent positions are entrenched and late entrants face steep prior-art barriers.
TSMC and IBM dominate a highly concentrated field
TSMC leads the ranking with 386 patent families, nearly double the 237 patent families held by IBM in second place. Intel ranks third with 141 patent families, leaving a substantial gap to the rest of the field.
The top five filers — TSMC, IBM, Intel, Qualcomm, and GlobalFoundries — together account for 82% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, confirming extreme concentration. A clear tier gap separates these five from the remaining applicants, whose individual counts drop sharply below 50 patent families.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) | 386 | |
| 2 | International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 237 | |
| 3 | Intel Corporation | 141 | |
| 4 | Qualcomm Incorporated | 52 | |
| 5 | GlobalFoundries US Inc. | 44 | |
| 6 | Applied Materials, Inc. | 36 | |
| 7 | Tokyo Electron Limited | 20 | |
| 8 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 15 | |
| 9 | Google LLC | 10 | |
| 10 | IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) | 9 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Parabellum Strategic Opportunities Fund LLC | 7 | |
| 12 | Synopsys, Inc. | 7 | |
| 13 | Adeia Semiconductor Solutions LLC | 7 | |
| 14 | Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences | 6 | |
| 15 | Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Beijing) Corporation (SMIC Beijing) | 6 | |
| 16 | Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation (SMIC Shanghai) | 6 | |
| 17 | French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) | 6 | |
| 18 | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 6 | |
| 19 | National Taiwan University | 5 | |
| 20 | IBM Deutschland GmbH | 4 |
TSMC’s scale and IBM’s broad portfolio imply that any new entrant must either identify genuinely differentiated claim space or partner with an established player to navigate the dense prior-art landscape these two leaders have built.
Filings from approximately 2024 onward are subject to standard patent-publication lag and will be under-counted in the current corpus; the apparent recent softening partly reflects this delay rather than a true cessation of activity.
Annual volume has plateaued near its 2022 peak; semiconductor device classes dominate the technology mix
The filing trend reveals a field that expanded sharply between 2017 and 2019 and has since plateaued. The technology composition is overwhelmingly concentrated in semiconductor device classes, with a small set of adjacent branches representing lower-density areas.
Annual filing trend
Filings grew from 64 patent families in 2017 to a peak of 148 in 2022, then eased to 127 in 2023 and 115 in 2024. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are heavily under-counted due to publication lag and should not be interpreted as a sustained decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) and H10D (Semiconductor devices, general) together represent the dominant share of classified records. H10B (Memory device manufacture) and B82Y (Nanotechnology applications) are present at lower density, pointing to adjacent areas where GAA and high-k techniques intersect with memory and nanoscale fabrication.
↗ 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.
Self-aligned hybrid substrate stacked gate-all-aro…
A semiconductor structure including vertically stacked nFETs and pFETs containing suspended semiconductor channel material nanosheets (NS) and a method of forming such a structure. The structure is a three dimensional (3D) integration by vertically stacking nFETs and pFETs for area scaling. In an embodiment, vertically-stacked NS FET structures include a… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semiconductor device and method | 355 |
| 2 | Metal gate of gate-all-around transistor | 141 |
| 3 | Sub-fin isolation schemes for gate-all-around tran… | 140 |
| 4 | Vertical gate-all-around field effect transistors … | 139 |
| 5 | Gate-all-around field-effect transistor devices ha… | 134 |
| 6 | Threshold voltage adjustment for a gate-all-around… | 131 |
| 7 | Semiconductor device and fabricating method thereof | 106 |
| 8 | Full air-gap spacers for gate-all-around nanosheet… | 99 |
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 patent structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a mature lifecycle, extreme concentration, active cross-institutional collaboration, and US-dominant filing geography shapes both the risks and the realistic entry paths for new players in this space.
Field is at maturity; annual volume has eased from the 2022 peak
The lifecycle evidence places this field at the Maturity stage: annual filings have plateaued near their peak, with 148 patent families filed in 2022 declining modestly to 115 in 2024. This pattern indicates that the foundational claim space — metal gate stacks, nanosheet channel architecture, threshold voltage tuning — is largely occupied. R&D investment should prioritise differentiated process integration or application-specific extensions rather than broad structural claims already covered by the leaders.
Lifecycle: Maturity82% of the top-100 pool held by five filers; entry barriers are high
The top five filers — TSMC, IBM, Intel, Qualcomm, and GlobalFoundries — hold 82% of the top hundred filers’ combined patent families. This extreme concentration means that any new claim in core GAA or high-k materials is likely to encounter prior art from these five. A freedom-to-operate analysis centred on TSMC’s 386-family portfolio and IBM’s 237-family portfolio is a necessary first step before committing to a development program.
High concentrationIBM–CEA and TSMC–NTU are the most active co-filing pairs
The strongest co-filing relationship is between IBM and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), with 6 co-filed patent families, followed by TSMC co-filing with National Taiwan University (5 families). IBM also co-files regularly with its UK and German subsidiaries (4 families each). IMEC has active co-filing relationships with both KU Leuven and Huawei Technologies (3 families each). These partnerships suggest that academic and government-lab collaboration is a viable route for building a credible portfolio without the scale of a TSMC or IBM.
Ecosystem partnershipsUS filings dominate; EPO and PCT coverage is limited
The United States is the overwhelmingly dominant filing jurisdiction. EPO and WIPO PCT filings are present but at significantly lower volumes, and China, Taiwan, and South Korea together account for a small number of records. This US-centric pattern reflects both the headquarters locations of the leading filers and the commercial importance of the US market. Applicants targeting the European or Asian manufacturing ecosystem may find comparatively less blocking prior art in those jurisdictions.
US-centric geographyGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) | 6 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) | National Taiwan University | 5 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | IBM United Kingdom Ltd. | 4 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | IBM Deutschland GmbH | 4 |
| IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) | KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven) | 3 |
| IMEC (Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre) | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 3 |
| Tokyo Electron Limited | Tokyo Electron US Holdings, Inc. | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
TSMC leads on volume; Intel is the fastest-growing challenger
TSMC holds the largest portfolio by a wide margin, but Intel’s recent momentum is the most pronounced among established players, while IBM’s recent filings have contracted sharply.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
TSMC holds 386 patent families, more than 60% more than the second-ranked IBM. Its technology emphasis is concentrated in H01L 29 (semiconductor device structures), H01L 21 (semiconductor fabrication processes), and H01L 27 (integrated circuits), reflecting deep coverage of both device architecture and process integration. Recent momentum shows a modest contraction of 6% versus the prior period, consistent with a maturing position defending rather than aggressively expanding a dominant portfolio.
families: 386Intel Corporation
Intel ranks third overall with 141 patent families but is the fastest-growing major incumbent, with recent filings up 113% versus the prior period — the strongest growth rate among established large filers. Its technology focus mirrors TSMC’s across H01L 29, H01L 21, and H01L 27, indicating a broad-based push across device and process claims rather than a specialised niche. This trajectory makes Intel the most active challenger to the TSMC–IBM duopoly and a critical company to track for new claim conflicts.
families: 141| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) | 171 | ▼ -6% |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 48 | ▼ -59% |
| Intel Corporation | 83 | ▲ +113% |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | 30 | ▲ +100% |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | 23 | ▲ +77% |
| Tokyo Electron Limited | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
| Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 5 | ▲ new entrant |
| GlobalFoundries US Inc. | 8 | ▲ new entrant |
Memory integration and nanotechnology applications are under-served adjacent branches
Several IPC branches classified within the GAA / high-k corpus have substantially lower patent density than the dominant H01L and H10D classes. These represent areas where GAA and high-k techniques intersect with adjacent application domains and where the claim space is comparatively less crowded.
H10B · Memory Device Manufacture
With 106 records at a 6% share of classified activity, H10B — covering memory device manufacture — is the most populated of the lower-density branches. Gate-all-around architectures are increasingly relevant to embedded and standalone memory scaling, particularly for SRAM and non-volatile cells where high-k gate stacks offer leakage advantages. The moderate but non-trivial record count suggests this intersection is beginning to attract attention; a targeted filing program focused on GAA-specific memory cell integration could establish a differentiated position before the space consolidates.
Search this in Eureka →B82Y · Nanotechnology Applications
B82Y records number 82, representing a 4% share of classified records. This branch captures cross-disciplinary nanotechnology claims where semiconductor fabrication intersects with nanoscale materials science — relevant to atomic-layer deposition of high-k films and sub-2nm channel materials. The sparse record count relative to the dominant semiconductor device classes means this remains an under-populated adjacent branch. Entry plausibility is reasonable for materials-science-focused research institutions or ALD equipment suppliers who can anchor claims in nanoscale characterisation or novel dielectric stack compositions rather than device architecture.
Search this in Eureka →How leading applicants differ by technology route emphasis
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H10D 62 · Semiconductor devices (general) | H10D 64 · Semiconductor devices (general) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (TSMC) | Strong · 391 | Strong · 290 | Strong · 198 | Strong · 198 | Strong · 197 |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | Strong · 257 | Strong · 174 | Moderate · 110 | Moderate · 118 | Moderate · 100 |
| Intel Corporation | Strong · 146 | Strong · 88 | Strong · 84 | Moderate · 70 | Moderate · 69 |
| Qualcomm Incorporated | Strong · 52 | Strong · 35 | Strong · 29 | Moderate · 12 | Moderate · 11 |
| Applied Materials, Inc. | Strong · 36 | Strong · 22 | Moderate · 14 | Moderate · 13 | Moderate · 13 |
| GlobalFoundries Inc. | Strong · 20 | Strong · 12 | Strong · 14 | Strong · 12 | Moderate · 8 |
| Tokyo Electron Limited | Strong · 20 | Strong · 15 | Strong · 11 | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The current corpus covers 949 patent families. TSMC leads with 386 patent families, followed by IBM with 237 and Intel with 141.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is the dominant filer with 386 patent families, representing more than 40% of the ranked corpus on its own. Together with IBM, the two leaders account for the majority of the top-tier filing activity.
The field reached a peak of 148 patent families filed in 2022 and annual volume has since eased, reaching 115 in 2024. The lifecycle evidence classifies this as a Maturity stage field. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are heavily under-counted due to publication lag and cannot be used to draw conclusions about current activity.
The United States is by far the leading filing jurisdiction. EPO and WIPO PCT filings are present at lower volumes, and China, Taiwan, and South Korea each account for a small number of records. The US-centric pattern reflects the headquarters of the dominant filers and the commercial priority of the US semiconductor market.
The most active co-filing pair is IBM and the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), with 6 co-filed patent families. TSMC and National Taiwan University have co-filed 5 patent families. IMEC co-files with both KU Leuven and Huawei Technologies, each with 3 patent families.
The most-cited works in this corpus focus on metal gate structures for gate-all-around transistors, sub-fin isolation schemes, vertical GAA field-effect transistors, threshold voltage adjustment techniques, and full air-gap spacers for nanosheet transistors. These citation clusters indicate that gate-stack composition, isolation, and threshold-voltage engineering are the foundational technical battlegrounds in this space.
Built on Patsnap Open Platform
This report’s underlying patent dataset — filings, assignees, technology clusters — is open for developers via MCP and REST API. Free to start, 10,000 credits, no credit card required.
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.