Joining, Welding & Brazing Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
Joining, Welding & Brazing Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, and Where the Field Is Still Open
No single company dominates. The top 5 assignees together account for just 15.5% of all 2,106 records in scope, and the top 10 for 21.9% — this is a fragmented field, not one locked up by a handful of players. Filings moved from 72 in 2017 to a recorded peak of 90 in 2024, with the 2021-to-2024 span showing a 17% increase. Years after 2024 show fewer records only because publication has not caught up yet — treat 2025 and 2026 as incomplete, not as a slowdown.
- 1APPLE INC3.9%
- 2EXXONMOBIL TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING CO3.5%
- 3FISHER & PAYKEL HEALTHCARE LTD3.4%
- 4SHELL OIL CO3.3%
- 5NIPPON STEEL CORPORATION1.4%
See the full joining, welding & brazing patent landscape 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 about joining, welding & brazing patents
Who are the leading patent holders in welding and brazing technology?
The dataset ranks 100 companies by record count, with the leading assignee holding 83 records against 29 for fifth place and 25 for tenth place. The top 5 assignees combined hold 15.5% of all 2,106 records in scope, and the top 10 combined hold 21.9%. That leaves the large majority of filings spread across a long tail of smaller filers, so no single company controls the field outright.
Is patent filing activity in joining and welding growing or slowing down?
Complete-year filings rose from 77 in 2021 to 90 in 2024, a 17% increase, with 2024 the highest complete year in the dataset. Filing counts in 2025 and 2026 appear lower only because publication typically lags filing by about 18 months, so those years are still filling in. Based on the last complete year, the trend is one of steady growth rather than decline.
What technology areas dominate joining and welding patent filings?
Welding, soldering and brazing (IPC class B23K) is by far the largest single category, appearing in 25.5% of all 2,106 records. Shaping of plastics (B29C) follows at 10.9%, with alloys, layered products, drilling, pipe fittings, heat treatment and body-fluid devices each in the mid-single digits. Because records can carry multiple IPC classes, these figures overlap and add to more than 100%, reflecting how joining technology spans structural, materials and even medical-device applications.
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 Joining, Welding & Brazing Patent Landscape covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-08-31. 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.