Microtunnelling Patents: Top Companies & Filing Trends 2026
Microtunnelling and Pipe Jacking Patents: Who Files, What They Claim, Where Gaps Remain
Filing nearly doubled in three years. documented filings rose from 100 in 2021 to 175 in 2024, a +75% increase over that span. Annual filings climbed from 22 in 2017 to a peak of 175 in 2024, with the 2021-to-2024 span alone showing a +75% increase. Counts for 2025 and 2026 will continue to rise as later publications land; they should not be read as a slowdown.
- 1KURIMOTO LTD3.2%
- 2KUBOTA CORP2.6%
- 3CHINA RAILWAY ENGINEERING EQUIPMENT GROUP CO LTD2.1%
- 4TECTONA2.0%
- 5SHANGHAI TUNNEL ENG CO LTD1.9%
See the full microtunnelling and pipe jacking 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 microtunnelling and pipe jacking patents
Who holds the most patents in microtunnelling and pipe jacking?
The dataset ranks 100 companies by patent family count, and the leading assignee holds 44 of the 1,359 records in scope. No single company dominates: the top 5 assignees combined hold only 11.8% of all records, and the tenth-ranked firm holds just 15. This is a fragmented field where filing activity is spread across construction contractors, equipment manufacturers and water utilities rather than concentrated in a few platform holders.
Is patent filing in microtunnelling still growing?
Yes, through the last complete year on record. Annual filings rose from 100 in 2021 to 175 in 2024, a +75% increase, with 2024 marking the peak year in the dataset. Filing counts for 2025 and 2026 appear lower only because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, so those later years are still filling in and should not be read as a slowdown.
What technology areas do most microtunnelling patents cover?
The two largest IPC classes are E21D, covering shafts, tunnels and mine support, at 52.5% of the 1,359 records in scope, and F16L, covering pipes and pipe fittings, at 47.8%. Earth and rock drilling, foundation work and mine ventilation form a secondary tier. Digital process control and material testing classes are comparatively thin, suggesting most claim activity still centres on the mechanical hardware rather than on monitoring or analytics software.
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 Microtunnelling and Pipe Jacking 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.