Heavy Rare Earth Free Magnet Alloy Patents: Leaders & Trends 2026
Heavy rare earth free magnet alloy design patents: who holds grain boundary diffusion and dysprosium-free claims
33.6% concentration. The top 5 assignees together hold 232 of 691 records in scope — a third of the field sits with a handful of filers. Annual filings climbed from 45 in 2017 to a peak of 90 in 2020, then fell — 50 in 2021 down to 22 in 2024, a 56% decline over that three-year span. 2025 and 2026 figures are still incomplete because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so the most recent years should not be read as a continued drop.
- 1FUJIAN CHANGTING GOLDEN DRAGON RARE EARTH CO LTD109
- 2SHIN ETSU CHEMICAL CO LTD39
- 3YANTAI DONGXING MAGNETIC MATERIALS INC35
- 4YANTAI ZHENGHAI MAGNETIC MATERIAL CO LTD26
- 5PROTERIAL LTD23
See the full heavy rare earth free magnet alloy design 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 on heavy rare earth free magnet patents
What counts as a heavy rare earth free magnet in patent claims?
In this dataset, it means an Nd-Fe-B or related sintered magnet formulation and processing method that achieves coercivity and thermal stability targets without adding dysprosium or terbium. Claims typically substitute cerium, use grain boundary diffusion of non-heavy-rare-earth elements, or refine microstructure through dual-alloy powder methods. The search string used here specifically pairs those routes with coercivity, anisotropy field and thermal stability language, so the 691 records in scope are process- and composition-focused rather than end-use claims.
Who are the leading patent holders in dysprosium-free magnet technology?
The assignee ranking is concentrated: the leader holds 109 of 691 records, and the top 5 combined account for 232 records, or 33.6% of the field. That drop-off from leader to fifth place (23 records) shows a leader-plus-long-tail structure rather than several evenly matched competitors. Anyone assessing freedom to operate should look closely at the top few portfolios first, since they hold a disproportionate share of the claim space.
Is patent filing in this field growing or slowing down?
Filings peaked at 90 in 2020 and have since declined to 22 in 2024, a 56% drop over that three-year window. However, patent publication typically lags actual filing by about 18 months, so the 2025 and 2026 figures in any dataset are necessarily incomplete and should not be read as continued decline. The more reliable read is that filing activity has settled below its 2020 peak rather than that the technology is being abandoned.
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 Heavy Rare Earth Free Magnet Alloy Design 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.