Hybrid Capacitor Patent Landscape 2026
Hybrid Capacitor Patent Landscape in 2026
The hybrid capacitor patent field is dominated by a small cluster of battery and materials specialists — NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD alone accounts for a commanding share of the top-ranked filers. Activity peaked in 2019 and annual volume has eased since, placing the field in a post-peak phase even as the multi-year body of prior art remains substantial.
NINGDE AMPEREX leads a highly concentrated field with a wide gap to the pack
NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD ranks first with 1,438 patent records, nearly twice the second-ranked SEMICON ENERGY LAB CO LTD at 808. The top five filers collectively hold 38% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, signalling pronounced concentration at the apex.
The tier gap between the top two and the rest is steep: third-ranked SUBARU CORP (214 records) sits at roughly one-seventh of the leader’s volume. Below rank three, applicants cluster in a narrower 120–200 record band, suggesting a competitive mid-tier with no single challenger close to displacing the top two.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD | 1,438 | |
| 2 | Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. | 808 | |
| 3 | Subaru Corporation | 214 | |
| 4 | Asahi Kasei Corporation | 197 | |
| 5 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. | 185 | |
| 6 | Zeon Corporation | 172 | |
| 7 | GS Yuasa International Ltd. | 168 | |
| 8 | Dongguan Amperex Technology Limited | 159 | |
| 9 | Tesla, Inc. | 158 | |
| 10 | Contemporary Amperex Technology (Hong Kong) Limited | 155 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Toyota Motor Corporation | 149 | |
| 12 | Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. | 140 | |
| 13 | UACJ Corporation | 129 | |
| 14 | MU Ionic Solutions Corporation | 121 | |
| 15 | PRIME PLANET ENERGY & SOLUTIONS INC | 120 | |
| 16 | Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited | 116 | |
| 17 | Central Glass Co., Ltd. | 98 | |
| 18 | Asahi Kasei Battery Separator Corporation | 98 | |
| 19 | Musashi Energy Solutions Co., Ltd. | 96 | |
| 20 | Daikin Industries, Ltd. | 95 |
NINGDE AMPEREX’s position implies broad freedom-to-operate constraints for any entrant targeting H01M electrode and cell chemistries — the core of the leader’s portfolio — while the mid-tier’s relative parity leaves room for focused specialists to carve defensible niches in adjacent materials or application sub-segments.
Filings from 2024 onward are subject to publication lag and will be under-counted; the apparent decline in those years should not be read as a definitive market signal. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Activity peaked in 2019; battery-cell classes dominate technology composition
The annual filing trend and the IPC class distribution together reveal a field whose most intense period of new disclosure has passed and whose technical centre of gravity sits firmly in electrochemical cell engineering rather than classical capacitor design.
Annual filing trend
Filings rose sharply from 508 in 2017 to a peak of 821 in 2019, then retreated to a secondary high of 742 in 2022 before continuing to ease. Data from 2024 onward is affected by publication lag and should be treated as preliminary; the visible step-down in 2024–2026 overstates any real-world decline.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01M (Batteries, cells & fuel cells) is by far the dominant class, reflecting the hybrid capacitor field’s deep reliance on lithium-ion and related electrode chemistry. H01G (Capacitors) is a solid second, confirming the dual electrochemical identity of the technology. Beyond these two, H02J (Power supply & grid systems), C01B (Non-metallic elements & inorganic compounds), and B60L (Electric vehicle propulsion) appear as secondary branches with notably smaller counts, pointing to application-layer and materials-layer work that remains comparatively sparse.
↗ 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.
Positive electrode for lithium ion capacitor and l…
Provided is a positive electrode for lithium ion capacitor that allows increasing the capacity of a lithium ion capacitor. A method for producing a positive electrode for lithium ion capacitor disclosed herein includes a the steps of: giving a positive electrode mixture containing an activated carbon, a binder and a solvent, to a positive electrode… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Power storage device and power storage system | 1,005 |
| 2 | Collector, electrode structure, non-aqueous electr… | 556 |
| 3 | Solvent-free process based graphene electrode for … | 279 |
| 4 | Hybrid electrode and surface-mediated cell-based s… | 260 |
| 5 | Lithium ion conductive solid electrolyte and produ… | 237 |
| 6 | Powder material, electrode structure using the pow… | 228 |
| 7 | Prelithiated current collector and secondary lithi… | 218 |
| 8 | Systems and methods for series battery charging | 211 |
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 structure means for R&D investment decisions
Four structural observations — maturity, concentration, collaboration, and geography — shape the opportunity map for teams considering entry or expansion in hybrid capacitors.
Post-peak field with an established prior-art base
The lifecycle stage is assessed as Decline, with annual filings easing back from the 2019 peak. On a multi-year basis the accumulated corpus is large, meaning most core electrode and electrolyte combinations carry prior-art risk. New entrants should prioritise freedom-to-operate searches before committing to electrode architecture work in H01M 4 and H01M 10, which are the most densely filed sub-classes.
Lifecycle: Post-peakTwo-tier structure — dominant pair, competitive mid-tier
NINGDE AMPEREX (1,438 records) and SEMICON ENERGY LAB (808 records) form a distinct leading tier. The mid-tier — SUBARU CORP, ASAHI KASEI, PANASONIC IP Management, ZEON, GS Yuasa, and others — clusters between roughly 120 and 215 records each. The top five filers account for 38% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, so the field is concentrated but not monopolistic at the mid-tier level.
High concentrationCo-filing is active within supply-chain clusters
The most active co-filing pair is NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD and DONGGUAN AMPEREX TECH with 33 joint filings, reflecting vertical integration within the CATL ecosystem. ASAHI KASEI and Skyworks (33 and 8 filings respectively in that pairing) represent a materials-to-device collaboration, while GS Yuasa International co-files with Doshisha University (7 filings) and Robert Bosch (5 filings), illustrating an industry-academia-OEM triangle. These clusters suggest that meaningful partnerships are already consolidated; new collaborations would likely need to target white-space application domains.
Supply-chain clusteringUS and Europe are the dominant filing destinations
The United States leads as the primary jurisdiction, followed by Europe (EPO) and WIPO (PCT). Germany and India rank fourth and fifth, indicating that European automotive and emerging-market protection are priorities for leading filers. Japan and China — the home markets of several top applicants — have comparatively modest counts at this corpus level, suggesting that overseas protection in US and Europe is the key strategic battleground.
US/Europe focusGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD | Dongguan Amperex Technology Limited | 33 |
| Asahi Kasei Corporation | Skyworks Solutions, Inc. | 8 |
| GS Yuasa International Ltd. | Doshisha University | 7 |
| GS Yuasa International Ltd. | Robert Bosch GmbH | 5 |
| NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD | Xiamen Amperex Technology Limited | 3 |
| GS Yuasa International Ltd. | Blue Energy Co., Ltd. | 2 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
NINGDE AMPEREX accelerates while Semiconductor Energy Lab contracts
The top two applicants are moving in opposite directions. NINGDE AMPEREX is deepening its electrode and cell focus with positive recent momentum, while SEMICON ENERGY LAB shows a pronounced retreat from its prior filing pace.
NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD
Ranked first with 1,438 patent records, NINGDE AMPEREX concentrates heavily on H01M 4 (electrode materials) and H01M 10 (cell chemistry), reflecting a full-stack battery engineering strategy. Recent-period momentum is positive at +31% versus the prior three-year window, making it the only major applicant visibly growing its filing rate in a field where most peers are retreating.
patent records: 1,438Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
Ranked second with 808 patent records, Semiconductor Energy Laboratory spans H01M 4, H01M 10, and H01G 11 (hybrid capacitor sub-class), giving it the broadest cross-domain coverage among top filers. However, recent momentum has declined sharply at –42% versus the prior period, suggesting a reduction in new IP generation rather than a sustained challenge to the leader.
patent records: 808| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD | 676 | ▲ +31% |
| Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. | 121 | ▼ -42% |
| Asahi Kasei Corporation | 37 | ▼ -55% |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited | 9 | ▼ -95% |
| Subaru Corporation | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd. | 43 | ▼ -52% |
| GS Yuasa International Ltd. | 23 | ▼ -55% |
Under-served routes in grid integration, EV propulsion, and inorganic precursor chemistry
Relative to the H01M and H01G core, several adjacent IPC branches carry notably lower filing counts. These are observations of relative sparsity; whether each constitutes a genuine R&D opportunity depends on technical fit and freedom-to-operate.
H02J · Power supply & grid systems
With 652 patent records against the H01M core’s 9,372, grid-integration and power-management work for hybrid capacitors is comparatively sparse. Given that hybrid capacitors are proposed for frequency regulation and renewable buffering, the gap between device-level IP and system-level IP may represent an under-served adjacent space for teams with power-electronics expertise. Entry paths include patent work on charge/discharge control algorithms and grid-interface hardware that specifically exploit hybrid capacitor characteristics.
Search this in Eureka →B60L · Electric vehicle propulsion
Only 267 patent records sit under B60L despite substantial industry interest in hybrid capacitors for EV regenerative braking and peak-power buffering. The sparse coverage relative to the cell-chemistry core suggests that EV-system-level integration — pack topology, thermal management under dynamic load, and BMS co-design — remains an under-served branch. Teams with automotive powertrain background and access to hybrid capacitor cell data may find this adjacency worth evaluating.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ across core technology routes
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H01M 10 · Batteries, cells & fuel cells | H01M 4 · Batteries, cells & fuel cells | H01G 11 · Capacitors | H01M 50 · Batteries, cells & fuel cells | H01G 9 · Capacitors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD | Strong · 1,045 | Strong · 1,102 | Absent | Emerging · 174 | Absent |
| Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. | Strong · 558 | Strong · 589 | Moderate · 257 | Moderate · 163 | Emerging · 69 |
| Subaru Corporation | Strong · 191 | Strong · 193 | Strong · 176 | Emerging · 31 | Strong · 128 |
| Asahi Kasei Corporation | Strong · 238 | Strong · 168 | Strong · 174 | Moderate · 103 | Absent |
| Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited | Strong · 166 | Strong · 203 | Absent | Emerging · 37 | Absent |
| GS Yuasa International Ltd. | Strong · 128 | Strong · 137 | Strong · 95 | Moderate · 36 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus covers 5,664 patent families in scope. Patent-record counts across jurisdictions and IPC classes exceed this total because a single family can be filed in multiple offices and tagged to multiple technology classes.
NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD ranks first with 1,438 patent records, nearly double the second-ranked Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd. at 808 patent records.
Annual filings peaked in 2019 at 821 records, declined to 802 in 2020, partially recovered to 742 in 2022, and have eased since. The lifecycle assessment places the field in a post-peak phase. Counts from 2024 onward are under-counted due to publication lag.
The United States leads with 3,940 patent records, followed by Europe (EPO) with 2,738 and WIPO (PCT) with 437. Germany and India rank fourth and fifth respectively, reflecting European automotive market protection and emerging-market coverage priorities.
H01M (Batteries, cells & fuel cells) is by far the largest class with 9,372 records, followed by H01G (Capacitors) at 3,967 records. These two classes together define the electrochemical dual identity of hybrid capacitor technology. H02J, C01B, and B60L are secondary branches with considerably lower counts.
Among tracked applicants, NINGDE AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY LTD shows positive recent momentum at +31% versus the prior three-year window. Most other major applicants — including Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (-42%), Asahi Kasei (-55%), Panasonic IP Management (-52%), and GS Yuasa International (-55%) — show declining recent filing rates.
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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.
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.