GaN Power Device Patent Landscape 2026
GaN Power Device Patent Landscape in 2026
Wolfspeed holds the largest portfolio among all filers, and the field has reached a plateau following its 2021 peak, with device-structure patents under H01L dominating the technology mix. Chinese institutions collectively anchor the lead filing jurisdiction, while a small group of US defense and commercial players retain deep positions in core device and epitaxial process claims.
Wolfspeed leads a moderately concentrated field shaped by US defense, Japanese, and Chinese filers
Wolfspeed holds the top position with 839 patent families, more than twice the count of second-ranked Xidian University at 389 patent families. Fujitsu and Raytheon follow closely at 266 and 261 patent families respectively, forming a distinct second tier.
The top five filers account for 28% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers. That share indicates moderate concentration: a single incumbent commands a clear lead, yet challengers from academic, defense, and commercial backgrounds hold meaningful positions within striking distance of each other.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wolfspeed Inc | 839 | |
| 2 | Xidian University | 389 | |
| 3 | Fujitsu Limited | 266 | |
| 4 | Raytheon Company | 261 | |
| 5 | MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings Inc | 191 | |
| 6 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 176 | |
| 7 | Infineon Technologies Austria AG | 172 | |
| 8 | UNIV OF ELECTRONICS SCI & TECH OF CHINA | 161 | |
| 9 | NO 55 INST CHINA ELECTRONIC SCI & TECHNOLOGYGROUP … | 152 | |
| 10 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | 149 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Efficient Power Conversion Corporation | 145 | |
| 12 | HRL Laboratories LLC | 132 | |
| 13 | Regents of the University of California | 126 | |
| 14 | South China University of Technology | 118 | |
| 15 | SUZHOU INST OF NANO TECH & NANO BIONICS CHINESE AC… | 103 | |
| 16 | Huawei Technologies Co Ltd | 99 | |
| 17 | imec vzw | 98 | |
| 18 | Texas Instruments Inc | 95 | |
| 19 | GaN Systems Inc | 91 | |
| 20 | Intel Corporation | 86 |
Wolfspeed’s lead reflects decades of SiC and GaN device manufacturing, but the presence of Xidian University, UESTC, and multiple Chinese state-linked institutes signals that Chinese academic and government-backed players have built competitive depth in device design and fabrication process patents.
Filing counts for 2024 and especially 2025–2026 are substantially under-counted due to typical patent publication lags of 18–24 months; apparent declines in those years should not be interpreted as a reduction in actual inventive activity.
Activity plateaued at the 2021 peak; device-structure patents overwhelmingly dominate the technology mix
The annual filing trend and IPC composition together reveal a field that has matured around a core device-structure theme while process and circuit-level branches remain comparatively sparse.
Annual filing trend
Filings climbed from 591 in 2017 to a peak of 909 in 2021, then eased to 858 in 2022 and 809 in 2023. The 2024 figure of 657 and near-zero counts for 2025–2026 reflect publication lag, not a real drop; the field is best described as plateaued near its 2021 high on a multi-year basis.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) accounts for the large majority of records, underscoring that innovation is concentrated in device architecture and fabrication process. Adjacent classes — H10D, H03K (logic circuits), C30B (crystal growth), H03F (amplifiers), and H02M (power conversion) — each represent modest shares, pointing to areas where the patent density thins out relative to the dominant class.
↗ 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.
GAN power device and manufacturing method thereof
Disclosed are a GaN power device and a manufacturing method thereof. The GaN power device includes a substrate, and a buffer layer, a GaN channel layer and a barrier layer sequentially stacked on the substrate from bottom to top. The barrier layer is provided with a p-GaN cap layer and a p-GaN thin layer, and the p-GaN thin layer is configured to cover the… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nitride based transistors on semi-insulating silic… | 885 |
| 2 | Aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride high elec… | 560 |
| 3 | Insulating gate AlGaN/GaN HEMT | 541 |
| 4 | Group III nitride based FETs and HEMTs with reduce… | 509 |
| 5 | Diamond on iii-nitride device | 474 |
| 6 | Printable semiconductor structures and related met… | 460 |
| 7 | Controlled buckling structures in semiconductor in… | 448 |
| 8 | Strain balanced nitride heterojunction transistors… | 404 |
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 maturing lifecycle, a moderate concentration gap, active multi-party collaborations, and. China-heavy jurisdictional coverage creates a specific set of strategic considerations for new and existing entrants.
Field has reached maturity: annual volume has plateaued near its 2021 peak
Annual filings peaked at 909 in 2021 and have eased since, consistent with a field entering maturity. Core device-structure space (H01L) is heavily claimed; incremental improvements to established HEMT and lateral GaN topologies face a dense prior-art environment. R&D value is increasingly found in differentiated process integration, packaging, and adjacent circuit functions rather than primary device architecture.
Maturity · PlateauModerate concentration with a clear leader and a competitive second tier
Wolfspeed’s 839-family lead is substantial, but the second tier — Xidian University, Fujitsu, Raytheon, and MACOM — is dense and diverse in institutional type. No single challenger is close to closing the gap to Wolfspeed, yet the spread of defense, academic, and fabless commercial filers in the top 20 means that niche leadership (e.g., high-voltage, RF, or monolithic integration) is contestable without matching the leader’s absolute volume.
Concentration · ModerateWolfspeed–UC Regents is the most active co-filing pair; Xidian drives a hub-and-spoke network
The most active co-filing relationship pairs Wolfspeed with the Regents of the University of California at 52 jointly filed families, reflecting long-running university-industry research programs. Fujitsu and Fujitsu Semiconductor co-filed 29 families, indicating internal spin-off coordination. Xidian University is the most networked academic node, co-filing with its Guangzhou research institute (25 families), its Wuhu institute (5 families), Beijing Microelectronics Institute (4 families), and ZTE (3 families), suggesting a coordinated national research program.
Collaboration · ActiveChina leads on filing volume; the US retains the deepest single-country portfolio
China is the lead filing office by a wide margin. The United States follows as the second-largest jurisdiction. Japan, WIPO PCT, and the EPO form a secondary tier covering key commercial markets. Taiwan’s presence reflects foundry-linked activity from TSMC and related players. The concentration of filings in China and the US means that freedom-to-operate analysis in both jurisdictions is mandatory for any commercialization strategy.
Geography · China + US dominantGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Wolfspeed Inc | Regents of the University of California | 52 |
| Fujitsu Limited | Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited | 29 |
| Xidian University | Xidian University Guangzhou Research Institute | 25 |
| University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) | UESTC Guangdong Institute of Electronic Information Engineering | 13 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd | NXP Semiconductors NV | 7 |
| Xidian University | Xidian University Wuhu Research Institute | 5 |
| Xidian University | Beijing Times Minxin Technology Co Ltd | 4 |
| Xidian University | Beijing Microelectronics Technology Institute | 4 |
| Xidian University | ZTE Corporation | 3 |
| Xidian University | Xi’an University of Technology | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Wolfspeed leads on volume; University of Electronic Science and Technology of China shows the strongest upward momentum
The top applicants span US commercial incumbents, Japanese industrial players, and Chinese academic and state institutions, with meaningful divergence in recent filing trajectories.
Wolfspeed Inc
Wolfspeed holds 839 patent families — the largest portfolio in this field — concentrated in H01L 29 (semiconductor device structures) and H01L 21 (fabrication processes), consistent with a vertically integrated device manufacturer covering both epitaxy and finished device design. Recent momentum shows a 38% decline versus the prior three-year period, indicating a maturing core portfolio rather than an accelerating filing program.
patent families: 839University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC)
UESTC has filed 54 patent families in the most recent period, representing 35% growth versus the prior three-year window — the strongest upward trend among the tracked top applicants with an established base. Its technology focus mirrors the leader’s H01L 29 and H01L 21 concentration, suggesting competitive positioning in device structure and process rather than a differentiated niche. Combined with the activity of its affiliated Guangdong institute, UESTC represents a growing Chinese academic challenge to established commercial players.
patent families: 161| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Wolfspeed Inc | 57 | ▼ -38% |
| Xidian University | 117 | ▼ -14% |
| Fujitsu Limited | 4 | ▲ new entrant |
| Raytheon Company | 21 | ▼ -78% |
| University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) | 54 | ▲ +35% |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 11 | ▼ -70% |
| Infineon Technologies Austria AG | 20 | ▲ +67% |
| No. 55 Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation | 19 | ▼ -49% |
Under-served adjacent branches where patent density is thin relative to technical importance
Five IPC branches sit at comparatively low patent density despite having direct technical relevance to GaN power device commercialization; two stand out for their combination of sparsity and realistic entry paths.
H02M · Power Conversion Circuits
With only 233 records in this branch against a dominant H01L corpus, the power conversion circuit integration space is notably sparse. GaN devices are most valuable when co-designed with the gate driver and converter topology; patents covering GaN-native converter architectures, dead-time optimization, and monolithic driver-device integration are thinly populated. An entrant with circuit-design capability — rather than device fabrication expertise — could establish a defensible position here by focusing on claims that bridge device characteristics to system-level power conversion performance.
Search this in Eureka →C30B · Crystal Growth & Epitaxial Process
Crystal growth and bulk substrate development (C30B) accounts for only 286 records, representing a roughly 2% share of the IPC-level activity. Substrate quality — including dislocation density, bow, and semi-insulating behavior — directly limits GaN device performance and yield, yet the patent landscape here is sparse compared to device-level claims. Players investing in novel epitaxial reactor designs, precursor chemistries, or substrate-transfer approaches for GaN-on-silicon or GaN-on-diamond could find relatively uncrowded filing space with high leverage on downstream device differentiation.
Search this in Eureka →How leading filers differ in their technology route emphasis across IPC branches
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 23 · Semiconductor devices | H10D 30 · Semiconductor devices (general) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wolfspeed Inc | Strong · 784 | Strong · 567 | Emerging · 77 | Emerging · 104 | Emerging · 100 |
| Xidian University | Strong · 396 | Strong · 410 | Emerging · 38 | Emerging · 63 | Absent |
| Fujitsu Limited | Strong · 299 | Strong · 247 | Absent | Emerging · 32 | Emerging · 53 |
| Raytheon Company | Strong · 197 | Strong · 145 | Moderate · 52 | Emerging · 35 | Emerging · 19 |
| Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | Strong · 148 | Strong · 128 | Absent | Absent | Emerging · 24 |
| Infineon Technologies Austria AG | Strong · 119 | Strong · 95 | Moderate · 33 | Moderate · 40 | Absent |
| HRL Laboratories LLC | Strong · 118 | Strong · 94 | Absent | Absent | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus in scope contains 5,889 patent families. Wolfspeed holds the largest single portfolio at 839 patent families, and the top five filers together account for 28% of the combined total across the hundred largest filers.
Wolfspeed Inc is the top filer with 839 patent families, followed by Xidian University at 389 and Fujitsu at 266. Wolfspeed’s portfolio is concentrated in semiconductor device structure (H01L 29) and fabrication process (H01L 21) claims.
China is the lead filing office by a significant margin, followed by the United States in second place. Japan, WIPO PCT, and the EPO form a secondary cluster covering major commercial markets. Taiwan also holds a notable position, reflecting foundry-linked activity.
The field is at a maturity stage. Annual filings peaked in 2021 and have eased since, though the multi-year base remains large. Core device-structure space is densely claimed; differentiated value is more likely in process integration, packaging, and circuit-level innovations adjacent to primary device architecture.
Among tracked top applicants, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) shows the strongest upward trend at plus 35% in the recent period versus the prior three years. Infineon Technologies Austria also shows growth at plus 67%. By contrast, Raytheon is down 78%, Mitsubishi Electric down 70%, and Wolfspeed down 38% over the same comparison window.
The most-cited patents cluster around AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) structures. The top-cited work covers nitride transistors on semi-insulating substrates (885 citations), AlGaN/GaN HEMT architectures (560 citations), insulating-gate AlGaN/GaN HEMTs (541 citations), and diamond-on-III-nitride device structures (474 citations), establishing the foundational device and substrate concepts that underpin the bulk of subsequent filings.
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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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