Power MOSFET Patent Landscape 2026
Power MOSFET Patent Landscape in 2026
The Power MOSFET patent field is heavily concentrated, with a small group of established semiconductor houses — led by Renesas Electronics — holding commanding positions built on decades of device and process filings. Annual filing volume peaked in 2017 and has eased since, signaling a maturing field where differentiation increasingly lies in wide-bandgap materials, packaging, and gate-driver integration rather than core silicon MOSFET structures.
Renesas leads a concentrated incumbent tier
Renesas Electronics holds the top position among applicants ranked by patent records, followed closely by Infineon Technologies and Semicon Components (ON Semiconductor). These three incumbents alone account for a substantial share of activity among the hundred largest filers, reflecting structural consolidation typical of a maturing semiconductor platform.
The top five filers’ share of the hundred largest filers stands at 31%, indicating a moderately concentrated but not monopolistic landscape. A clear tier gap separates the top three from ranks four through ten, where Toshiba, Wolfspeed, and Fuji Electric maintain meaningful but distinctly smaller portfolios.
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Renesas Electronics Corporation | 1,215 | |
| 2 | Infineon Technologies AG | 1,025 | |
| 3 | Semiconductor Components Industries, LLC (ON Semiconductor) | 906 | |
| 4 | Toshiba Corporation | 833 | |
| 5 | Wolfspeed, Inc. | 799 | |
| 6 | Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. | 635 | |
| 7 | Infineon Technologies Austria AG | 603 | |
| 8 | Denso Corporation | 442 | |
| 9 | ALPHA & OMEGA SEMICONDUCTOR INC | 405 | |
| 10 | International Rectifier Corporation | 401 |
| # | Applicant | Patent records | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Infineon Technologies Americas Corp. | 361 | |
| 12 | Siliconix Incorporated | 335 | |
| 13 | Mitsubishi Electric Corporation | 331 | |
| 14 | Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation | 318 | |
| 15 | Hitachi, Ltd. | 317 | |
| 16 | Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd. | 317 | |
| 17 | Vishay Siliconix, LLC | 261 | |
| 18 | Texas Instruments Incorporated | 259 | |
| 19 | ROHM Co., Ltd. | 258 | |
| 20 | MaxPower Semiconductor, Inc. | 236 |
The incumbents’ entrenched positions in core semiconductor device classes (H01L) mean that new entrants face high freedom-to-operate barriers in silicon MOSFET structures, while wide-bandgap specialists such as Wolfspeed represent a diverging competitive axis that incumbents are also pursuing.
Filing counts for 2024 and 2025 are subject to publication lag and should be treated as provisional minimums rather than indicators of declining activity. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Volume has eased from a 2017 peak; semiconductor device classes dominate the mix
The annual filing trend and the technology composition chart together reveal a field that is large and structurally stable, but no longer in high-growth mode, with almost all patenting concentrated in a single dominant IPC class.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings peaked at 736 records in 2017 and have trended downward since, reaching 531 in 2023. The 2024 and 2025 figures are materially under-counted due to patent publication lag and should not be read as a continuation of decline; the true recent level will be higher once publications clear.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L (Semiconductor devices) dominates the technology mix by a wide margin, reflecting the field’s deep roots in silicon device physics, fabrication, and packaging. Secondary branches — H10D, H03K (pulse technique and logic circuits), H02M (power conversion), and H10B — are present but at a fraction of the H01L volume, pointing to meaningful but under-served intersections with gate-driver logic, power-conversion topology, and wide-bandgap device categories.
↗ 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.
Power MOSFET, power MOSFET packaged device, and me…
A source terminal layer, a gate terminal layer, and a drain terminal layer are disposed on main surfaces, opposite to each other, on main surfaces of a semiconductor substrate. These terminal layers are laid out on the respective main surfaces with such sizes as to fall within the areas of the respective main surfaces and joined to their corresponding… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Semiconductor power devices with alternating condu… | 1,244 |
| 2 | Nanoscale wires and related devices | 1,061 |
| 3 | Power semiconductor devices having improved high f… | 884 |
| 4 | Nanosensors | 762 |
| 5 | Power semiconductor devices and methods of manufac… | 722 |
| 6 | Power MOSFET | 721 |
| 7 | Semiconductor device having an SOI structure and m… | 689 |
| 8 | Vertical field effect transistors having improved … | 676 |
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 competitive structure means for R&D prioritization
Four structural observations — maturity stage, concentration, collaboration patterns, and geographic spread — collectively shape where incremental R&D investment is likely to yield defensible IP.
Post-peak field with pockets of renewal
The lifecycle evidence places Power MOSFET in a Decline stage, with annual filings easing back from the 2017 peak. This does not mean the technology is obsolete; it signals that core silicon MOSFET structures are well-covered and that differentiated filing now requires moving into adjacent spaces — wide-bandgap materials, packaging, and system-level integration — where portfolio density is lower and claim space remains available.
Lifecycle: DeclineTop five hold 31% of the largest-filer pool
The top five filers’ share of the hundred largest filers is 31%, with Renesas, Infineon, and ON Semiconductor forming a dominant first tier. The second tier (Toshiba, Wolfspeed, Fuji Electric, Infineon Austria, Denso) is active but trails meaningfully. New entrants will find claim space tightest in silicon device physics and most open in application-specific or material-specific branches.
Moderate concentrationCo-filing concentrated within Japanese industrial groups
The most active co-filing pairs are Toshiba / Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage (46 joint filings), Hitachi / Hitachi ULSI Systems (32), and Hitachi / Renesas East Japan Semiconductor (22). Denso and Toyota co-filed on 9 occasions, reflecting automotive powertrain integration work. Collaboration is predominantly intra-group rather than cross-industry, suggesting limited open-innovation activity at the portfolio level.
Intra-group dominantUS is the primary filing jurisdiction; Asian offices are secondary anchors
The United States leads filing jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by Europe (EPO), Japan, China, and WIPO (PCT). Taiwan and Germany round out the top tier. China’s relatively modest presence in a field of this commercial importance may indicate either a strategic filing gap or later-stage entry by Chinese applicants, and warrants monitoring as domestic EV and industrial power-electronics demand grows.
US-anchored globalGo 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Toshiba Corporation | Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation | 46 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi ULSI Systems Co., Ltd. | 32 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Renesas East Japan Semiconductor, Inc. | 22 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi Furchi Engineering Co., Ltd. | 16 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi Haramachi Electronics Co., Ltd. | 10 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi ULSI Engineering Corp. | 10 |
| Renesas Electronics Corporation | Renesas East Japan Semiconductor, Inc. | 9 |
| Denso Corporation | Toyota Motor Corporation | 9 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi Microcomputer System Ltd. | 8 |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | Hitachi Micro Systems, Inc. | 7 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
Renesas and Wolfspeed diverge on trajectory
Among the top filers, momentum signals a split between incumbents that are consolidating or contracting their filing rate and those actively building new portfolio positions, most notably in wide-bandgap device segments.
Renesas Electronics
Renesas Electronics leads the ranking with 1,215 patent records, concentrated across H01L 29 (semiconductor device structures), H01L 21 (fabrication processes), and H01L 23 (packaging). Its recent filing momentum shows a +64% increase versus the prior three-year window, indicating the company is actively refreshing its portfolio rather than coasting on legacy filings — an unusual posture for a post-peak field and a signal of continued strategic commitment.
patent records: 1,215Wolfspeed
Wolfspeed (formerly Cree) ranks fifth overall with 799 patent records and shows a +21% recent momentum trend, reflecting sustained investment in silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFET technology. Its filing emphasis is strongly concentrated in H01L 29 (device structures), consistent with its SiC device differentiation strategy. As EV and industrial power applications drive demand for higher-voltage, higher-temperature switching, Wolfspeed’s focused SiC portfolio positions it as the leading wide-bandgap challenger to the incumbent silicon-based players.
patent records: 799| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Infineon Technologies AG | 94 | ▼ -55% |
| Renesas Electronics Corporation | 90 | ▲ +64% |
| Toshiba Corporation | 12 | ▼ -64% |
| Wolfspeed Inc. | 132 | ▲ +21% |
| Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. | 33 | ▼ -49% |
| Infineon Technologies Austria AG | 83 | ▼ -41% |
| Hitachi, Ltd. | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Denso Corporation | 3 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches adjacent to the dominant device class
Several IPC branches co-occurring with Power MOSFET filings are sparsely populated relative to the dominant H01L class, pointing to areas where the intersection of power device physics with adjacent technical domains remains underexplored.
H02M · Power Conversion Circuits
H02M (power conversion — AC/DC, DC/DC, inverters) appears in only 565 patent records alongside Power MOSFET filings, a small fraction of the H01L volume. Given that power MOSFETs are almost universally deployed inside conversion topologies, the sparse overlap suggests that circuit-level co-invention combining device physics with converter architecture is underrepresented. R&D teams with both device and circuit expertise could target this intersection, particularly for GaN and SiC-based converter ICs where device-circuit co-optimization is a genuine differentiator.
Search this in Eureka →H03K · Pulse Technique and Gate-Driver Logic
H03K (pulse technique and logic circuits) registers 941 patent records in the corpus — the second-largest adjacent branch — but still dwarfed by the dominant device class. Gate-driver integration is a known performance bottleneck for wide-bandgap MOSFETs operating at high switching frequencies, and purpose-built gate-driver logic co-patented with device structures remains a relatively sparse area. Entrants with expertise in high-speed digital or mixed-signal circuits have a plausible path to differentiated filings here without directly confronting the dense H01L device-structure prior art.
Search this in Eureka →How top applicants differ across technology sub-routes
Strength of each leader across the main technology routes.
| Player | H01L 29 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 23 · Semiconductor devices | H10D 30 · Semiconductor devices (general) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infineon Technologies AG | Strong · 484 | Strong · 631 | Moderate · 143 | Strong · 387 | Emerging · 25 |
| Renesas Electronics Corporation | Strong · 587 | Strong · 492 | Moderate · 221 | Moderate · 265 | Emerging · 57 |
| International Rectifier Corporation | Strong · 547 | Strong · 503 | Moderate · 162 | Moderate · 154 | Emerging · 21 |
| Toshiba Corporation | Strong · 684 | Strong · 401 | Moderate · 144 | Absent | Emerging · 52 |
| Wolfspeed Inc. | Strong · 695 | Strong · 460 | Absent | Emerging · 79 | Emerging · 46 |
| Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation | Strong · 413 | Strong · 470 | Absent | Moderate · 183 | Emerging · 45 |
| Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. | Strong · 399 | Strong · 345 | Moderate · 169 | Moderate · 158 | Absent |
Frequently asked questions
Renesas Electronics leads the ranking with 1,215 patent records, ahead of Infineon Technologies (1,025) and Semicon Components / ON Semiconductor (906). All three are concentrated in H01L semiconductor device and fabrication sub-classes.
Annual filing volume peaked in 2017 at 736 records and has eased since, placing the field in a post-peak stage. The most recent years (2024–2025) are under-counted due to publication lag, so the current true rate is higher than raw figures suggest, but the multi-year trend is downward from the 2017 peak.
The United States is the primary filing jurisdiction by a wide margin, followed by Europe (EPO), Japan, China, and WIPO (PCT). Taiwan and Germany also appear as significant secondary markets.
The top five filers account for 31% of the combined patent records held by the hundred largest filers. A clear tier gap separates Renesas, Infineon, and ON Semiconductor from the second tier, indicating moderate-to-high concentration among the leading incumbents.
Renesas Electronics shows the strongest positive momentum among established leaders, with a +64% increase in recent filings versus the prior three-year window. Wolfspeed also shows positive momentum (+21%), driven by its SiC MOSFET focus. By contrast, Infineon Technologies AG (-55%), Toshiba (-64%), and Fuji Electric (-49%) show declining recent filing rates.
The sparsest adjacent branches relative to the dominant H01L device class are H02M (power conversion circuit integration) with 565 records and H03K (gate-driver and pulse logic integration) with 941 records. Both represent technically relevant intersections where Power MOSFET device physics meets circuit-level innovation, and where portfolio density is low enough to offer claim-building opportunities.
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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.
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