GaN Switching Efficiency Patent Snapshot 2026
GaN Systems dominates a highly concentrated field, holding the leading position among the top filers while the top five collectively account for 68% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total. Annual filing volume has plateaued near its 2020 peak, signalling a mature but still active competitive space where packaging, gate-drive circuitry, and power-conversion integration remain the most contested technical routes.
GaN Systems leads a tightly held, US-anchored field
GaN Systems sits at the top of the applicant ranking with 25 patent records, more than three times the tally of the nearest challenger, Transphorm Technology at 8 patent records. The field is built around a small number of specialist power-semiconductor companies rather than broad-based conglomerates.
The top five filers — GaN Systems, Transphorm Technology, Agency for Science Technology & Research, Elpis Tech, and Vishay General Semiconductor — together represent 68% of the ranked applicants visible in this query’ combined total, indicating a pronounced tier gap between the leaders and the rest of the ranked pool.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GaN Systems Inc. | 25 | |
| 2 | Transphorm Technology Inc. | 8 | |
| 3 | AGENCY FOR SCI TECH & RES | 3 | |
| 4 | Elpis Tech Inc. | 3 | |
| 5 | Vishay General Semiconductor LLC | 2 | |
| 6 | Suh Chang Soo | 2 | |
| 7 | Xidian University | 2 | |
| 8 | Zhejiang University | 2 | |
| 9 | Efficient Power Conversion Corporation | 2 | |
| 10 | Shenzhen Gang Cheung Fair Electronics | 1 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Nippon LSA Inc. | 1 | |
| 12 | Powdec K.K. | 1 | |
| 13 | South China University of Technology | 1 | |
| 14 | Taiyuan Yongming Hengdongyuan Electronics Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 15 | Institute for Energy Application Technology | 1 | |
| 16 | Qorvo US Inc. | 1 | |
| 17 | Kuwata Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 18 | UNIV OF ELECTRONICS SCI & TECH OF CHINA | 1 | |
| 19 | Baixın Information Technology Co., Ltd. | 1 | |
| 20 | Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau, Guangdong Power Grid | 1 |
GaN Systems’ dominance across semiconductor device structures (H01L 29 and H01L 23) and packaging (H01L 23) signals a vertically integrated IP strategy covering device physics through module-level implementation. Challengers such as Transphorm and Elpis Tech occupy narrower slices of the same device-structure space, leaving room for differentiation in adjacent branches.
Filing counts for 2024 and 2025 are subject to publication lag and should be treated as provisional lower bounds rather than indicators of activity level. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity plateaued around 2020; semiconductor device structures dominate the technology mix
The annual filing trend and the IPC technology breakdown together reveal a field that reached its highest annual output around 2020 and has since stabilised, while the technology mix remains anchored in semiconductor device classes with secondary clusters in pulse/logic circuits and power conversion.
Annual filing trend
Filings peaked at 8 records in both 2020 and 2022 before moderating. The 2024 and 2025 figures are likely under-counted due to publication lag and should not be read as a structural decline. The overall pattern is consistent with a field that has reached maturity in its core device-level IP layer.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) accounts for the largest share of classified records, reflecting the foundational device-physics focus of the field. H03K (Pulse technique and logic circuits) and H10D (Semiconductor devices, general) are each represented at a secondary level, with H02M (Power conversion) close behind — indicating that switching-circuit integration and converter topology are meaningful but not yet visible areas of filing 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.
Embedded packaging for devices and systems compris…
Embedded packaging for devices and systems comprising lateral GaN power transistors is disclosed. The packaging assembly is suitable for large area, high power GaN transistors and comprises an assembly of a GaN power transistor and package components comprising a three level interconnect structure. In preferred embodiments, the three level interconnect… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | III-Nitride High Electron Mobility Transistor Stru… | 98 |
| 2 | EMBEDDED PACKAGING FOR DEVICES AND SYSTEMS COMPRIS… | 78 |
| 3 | PACKAGING SOLUTIONS FOR DEVICES AND SYSTEMS COMPRI… | 70 |
| 4 | Enhancement mode gallium nitride power devices | 68 |
| 5 | Enhancement mode gallium nitride power devices | 59 |
| 6 | Power switching systems comprising high power e-mo… | 35 |
| 7 | CASCADED BOOTSTRAPPING GaN POWER SWITCH AND DRIVER | 24 |
| 8 | POWER SWITCHING SYSTEMS COMPRISING HIGH POWER E-MO… | 24 |
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.
Assignee snapshot from the current evidence set
The applicants below are visible in this query result. Because the evidence set is relatively small, read this section as a directional snapshot rather than a full competitive ranking.
GaN Systems
GaN Systems holds 25 patent records, the largest share among all applicants. Its technical focus spans H01L 29 (semiconductor device structures, 24 records), H01L 23 (semiconductor packaging and interconnects, 18 records), and H10D 62 (general semiconductor devices, 10 records), indicating a strategy that covers both the transistor-level IP and the packaging solutions needed to deploy GaN devices in power modules. Momentum is flagged as a new entrant in the recent window, consistent with concentrated recent activity.
patent records: 25Elpis Tech
Elpis Tech holds 3 patent records and is identified as a new entrant in the recent filing window with 4 recent records, the second-highest recent count in the momentum data. Its technical focus is differentiated from the leader: H02M 1 and H02M 7 (power conversion AC/DC topologies, 6 records each) and H05K 1 (printed circuit and assembly integration, 6 records). This positions Elpis Tech in the system-integration and converter-design layer rather than the device-physics layer, a less crowded space relative to GaN Systems’ stronghold.
patent records: 3Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 32 patent families. This is the base against which filing trends and lifecycle characterisation are assessed.
GaN Systems leads with 25 patent records, more than three times the tally of the second-ranked applicant, Transphorm Technology, which holds 8 patent records.
The evidence classifies the field as mature. Annual filings have plateaued near their 2020 peak rather than continuing to grow, indicating that the foundational device-level IP layer is well established.
The United States leads with 39 patent records, followed by China at 9 and WIPO (PCT) at 7. Europe (EPO) has 3 records, India 2, and Singapore 1.
H02J (Power supply and grid systems), H03F (Amplifiers), and H04B (Transmission, general) each have only 1 patent record in the corpus, making them the sparsest branches with plausible technical adjacency to GaN switching efficiency applications.
The momentum evidence flags both GaN Systems (5 recent patent records) and Elpis Tech (4 recent patent records) as new entrants in the recent filing window, indicating concentrated recent activity from both the corpus leader and a challenger focused on power-conversion integration.
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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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