Laser Diode Epi/Wafer Scale-Up Patent Snapshot 2026
The laser diode epitaxial and wafer scale-up space is dominated by Japanese electronics majors, with NEC Corp holding the top position among the hundred largest filers. Filing activity peaked in 2019 and has since eased, placing the field in a decline phase with Japan remaining the primary jurisdiction by a wide margin.
Japanese incumbents command a concentrated field
NEC Corp leads all filers with 110 patent records, followed closely by Toshiba at 88 and Panasonic Holdings at 72. The top five applicants together account for 43% of the combined total across the ranked applicants visible in this query, signaling a moderately concentrated visible assignee structure.
The lead is meaningful but not insurmountable: the gap between first-ranked NEC Corp and fifth-ranked Hitachi is roughly two-to-one, and a second tier of Japanese firms — Mitsubishi Electric, Ricoh, Fujitsu, Rohm, and Furukawa Electric — clusters between 25 and 50 patent records each, maintaining competitive relevance.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NEC Corporation | 110 | |
| 2 | Toshiba Corporation | 88 | |
| 3 | Panasonic Holdings Corporation | 72 | |
| 4 | Sharp Corporation | 60 | |
| 5 | Hitachi, Ltd. | 59 | |
| 6 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 50 | |
| 7 | Ricoh Company, Ltd. | 32 | |
| 8 | Fujitsu Limited | 29 | |
| 9 | Rohm Co., Ltd. | 27 | |
| 10 | Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. | 25 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Sony Group Corporation | 23 | |
| 12 | Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. | 17 | |
| 13 | II-VI Delaware Inc. | 16 | |
| 14 | NIPPON TELEGRAPH & TELEPHONE CORP | 13 | |
| 15 | Nichia Corporation | 13 | |
| 16 | Canon Inc. | 12 | |
| 17 | Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. | 10 | |
| 18 | Seiko Epson Corporation | 9 | |
| 19 | ELECTRONICS & TELECOMM RES INST | 9 | |
| 20 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | 8 |
The incumbents’ entrenched positions imply that core laser-diode epitaxy and wafer-process claims are well-covered. New entrants or challengers are more likely to find traction in adjacent or application-specific sub-classes rather than competing head-on in the visible H01S branch.
Patent publication typically lags filing by 18 to 24 months, so activity from 2024 onward is under-represented in this corpus and should not be interpreted as an absence of current R&D. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
A 2019 peak followed by a sustained pullback, with laser emission firmly dominant
Two charts together reveal both the temporal arc of innovation activity and the technical concentration of the field across IPC branches.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings rose sharply to a peak of 11 records in 2019, then declined steadily through 2023 and have registered near-zero counts in 2024–2026. The recent-window growth of -56% confirms this is a genuine structural pullback from the 2019 high, not a publication-lag artifact — though the 2024–2026 bars will fill in partially as pending applications publish.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01S (Lasers and stimulated emission) is visible in the IPC mix with 980 patent records, followed by H01L (Semiconductor devices) at 210 and G02B (Optical elements and systems) at 116. The steep falloff beyond the top two classes illustrates how tightly the corpus is anchored in core laser physics and semiconductor process, with optical integration and data-storage branches occupying a secondary tier.
↗ 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.
High power semiconductor laser diode and method fo…
Semiconductor laser diodes, particularly high power ridge waveguide laser diodes, are often used in opto-electronics as so-called pump laser diodes for fiber amplifiers in optical communication lines. To provide the desired high power output and stability of such a laser diode and avoid degradation during use, the present invention concerns an improved… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laser diode/lens assembly | 247 |
| 2 | Method of manufacturing a nitride semiconductor la… | 223 |
| 3 | Assembly structure for an optical integrated circu… | 179 |
| 4 | Optimized laser energy conversion through automati… | 139 |
| 5 | Fiber grating coupled light source capable of tuna… | 128 |
| 6 | High brightness, vertical cavity semiconductor las… | 125 |
| 7 | Coupled cavity high power semiconductor laser | 118 |
| 8 | Nitride semiconductor laser and method of fabricat… | 109 |
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.
NEC Corp
NEC Corp holds 110 patent records, the largest position in the corpus. Its technology emphasis is concentrated in H01S 5 (semiconductor laser devices within the stimulated-emission class) at 114 records, with H01L 21 (semiconductor fabrication processes) as a secondary focus at 18 records, and H10P 14 contributing a smaller third pillar. This broad coverage of both the laser physics and the underlying semiconductor process suggests NEC built an integrated IP position spanning device design through wafer-level manufacturing.
patent records: 110Toshiba
Toshiba follows with 88 patent records and mirrors NEC’s structural emphasis: H01S 5 at 87 records is its visible class, with H01L 21 at 12 and H01L 27 (integrated semiconductor circuits) at 6 records rounding out its profile. The near-complete overlap of Toshiba’s technical focus with NEC’s indicates that the two leaders competed directly across the same core claim space, with Toshiba also showing some interest in integrated-circuit-level semiconductor architectures.
patent records: 88Frequently asked questions
The corpus contains 38 patent families in scope for this topic.
NEC Corp leads with 110 patent records among the ranked applicants visible in this query, ahead of Toshiba at 88 and Panasonic Holdings at 72.
Annual filings peaked at 11 records in 2019. Since then, activity has declined steadily, and the field is classified in a decline life-cycle stage with a recent-window growth rate of -56%. Counts for 2024 and beyond are subject to publication lag.
Japan is the primary filing jurisdiction, followed by the United States in second place and Europe (EPO) in third. WIPO PCT coverage is limited at 22 patent records, suggesting national rather than global protection strategies have been preferred.
H01S (Lasers and stimulated emission) is visible in with 980 patent records. H01L (Semiconductor devices) is the main secondary class at 210 records, followed by G02B (Optical elements and systems) at 116 records.
G02B (optical elements and systems) and C30B (crystal growth) are relatively sparse compared to the H01S core. C30B in particular — covering upstream crystal growth directly relevant to epitaxial layer quality — has only 5 patent records in this corpus, which may represent a gap for teams focused on substrate-level enablers of wafer scale-up.
Built on Patsnap Open Platform
This report’s underlying patent dataset — filings, assignees, technology clusters — is open for developers via MCP and REST API. Free to start, 10,000 credits, no credit card required.
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.