Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Patents: Top Companies & Trends 2026
- Concentrated but not locked up. the top 5 assignees hold 19.8% of all 4,406 records in scope, and the top 10 hold 29.2% — leaving a long tail of single- and few-filing entrants.
- Filing growth is real, not flat. records rose from 430 in 2021 to 570 in 2024, a 33% increase over that three-year span, with 2022 the peak year so far at 741.
- Two IPC subclasses dominate the claim space. G06F (56.0% of records) and H04L (52.7% of records) cover the large majority of filings, while healthcare informatics and image/video recognition sit under 3%.
Filing growth compares 2021 (430 records) with 2024 (570) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 4,406 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape covers patent families published between 2015 and the 2026 data cut-off that combine privacy-preserving computation methods — homomorphic encryption, secure multiparty computation, differential privacy, trusted execution environments and zero-knowledge proofs — with encrypted or confidential data processing claims. The scope is deliberately narrow: it is not general cryptography, and it is not blockchain broadly, though both intersect with it.
Publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so the most recent one to two years in any trend understate actual filing activity. Readers should treat 2025 and 2026 figures as still filling in rather than as a sign of a slowdown.
Filing trends and technology composition
Filing volumes, receiving-office distribution and IPC composition for the 4,406 records in scope, drawn directly from the underlying dataset.
A decade of accelerating filings
Annual publications rose from 115 in 2017 to a peak of 741 in 2022, and the 2021-to-2024 span shows a 33% increase in records (430 to 570) even after the peak year. Treat the final one to two years on the chart as incomplete rather than declining.
Where the claims sit
Records concentrate in general-purpose computing (G06F, 56.0%) and digital transmission (H04L, 52.7%), the two subclasses that carry most encryption, key-management and secure-channel claims. AI-adjacent computing (G06N, 13.1%) and commerce/admin processing (G06Q, 11.3%) form a second tier, while wireless networks, ciphering-specific classifications, image recognition and healthcare informatics each sit under 5% of records.
Shares are the percentage of the 4,406 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Privacy-Enhancing Technologies Patent Landscape with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about privacy-enhancing technologies patent landscape and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a recent representative filing
Correlated randomness for secure multiparty computation (US12627485B2)
A computer-implemented method for providing correlated randomness for secure multiparty computation across multiple computing machines. It sets up a trusted execution environment, establishes one or more correlated randomness generators inside it, performs remote attestation of those generators by the participating machines, and injects secrets from the machines into the generator(s) to establish shared correlated randomness for downstream multiparty computation.Filed by Robert Bosch GmbH, published 2026-05-12 — illustrates how trusted execution environments are now being paired directly with secure multiparty computation protocols rather than treated as separate technical routes.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US20180005186A1 | System and method for forming, storing, managing, and executing contracts | 629 |
| 2 | US20110110525A1 | Fully homomorphic encryption method based on a bootstrappable encryption scheme, computer program and apparat… | 266 |
| 3 | US9774578B1 | Distributed key secret for rewritable blockchain | 249 |
| 4 | US8515058B1 | Bootstrappable homomorphic encryption method, computer program and apparatus | 244 |
| 5 | US20220057519A1 | Automated threat detection and deterrence apparatus | 220 |
| 6 | US20190312734A1 | Systems and methods authenticating a digitally signed assertion using verified evaluators | 217 |
| 7 | US20200153627A1 | Systems and methods for distributed key storage | 206 |
| 8 | US20130216044A1 | Homomorphic evaluation including key switching, modulus switching, and dynamic noise management | 201 |
| 9 | US20200242466A1 | Privacy-preserving machine learning | 191 |
| 10 | US20130170640A1 | Fully Homomorphic Encryption | 182 |
Citation counts favour older records inside any searched corpus — treat them as a signal of influence on the field, not of current commercial importance.
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Three patterns stand out once concentration, growth and citation data are read together.
Leadership is real but far from a lock
The top 5 assignees account for 19.8% of all 4,406 records in scope, and the top 10 for 29.2%. That leaves roughly seven in ten records held outside the ranked leaders, across the 100 companies the ranking covers plus a wider unranked tail — a field still open to new entrants with a distinct technical angle.
Filing activity is still climbing, not cooling
Records rose from 430 in 2021 to 570 in 2024, a 33% increase over that span, after an initial peak of 741 in 2022. Because publication lags filing by about 18 months, the apparent dip after 2022 in raw yearly counts should not be read as a retreat from the field.
Foundational cryptographic methods still anchor the field
The most-cited records in this landscape include bootstrappable homomorphic encryption methods and early smart-contract execution systems, both now a decade or more old. Their high citation counts reflect an early, foundational position rather than current filing activity, which has shifted toward trusted-execution and multiparty-computation implementations.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to privacy-enhancing technologies patent landscape, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who is filing, and where momentum is shifting
Semiconductor, cloud-platform and systems-integration companies dominate the ranked leaders, but recent-year momentum data shows several of them pulling back from new filings even as the overall field keeps growing.
A single filer well ahead of the field
The leading assignee holds 283 records, more than double the fifth-place total of 95 and well above the 76 held in tenth place — a steep drop-off that suggests the leader's position rests on a broad hardware and platform footprint rather than a narrow set of claims.
Several established filers are pulling back
Recent-year momentum shows some of the largest historical filers sharply reducing new filings — one falling 91% year-on-year and others recording no filings at all in the latest year. This mirrors the 18-month publication lag as much as any strategic retreat, but it also signals that the leaders' current claim density may not translate into equivalent near-term filing volume.
Systems integrators are pairing with specialist cryptography firms
The strongest co-assignee pairing in the dataset links a global systems-integration firm with a specialist secure-computation firm across 76 shared records, far ahead of the next strongest pairings. That pattern points to integrators sourcing core cryptographic primitives from smaller specialists rather than building them in-house.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. | 5 | -17% |
| Intel Corporation | 2 | -91% |
| International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) | 0 | -100% |
| ARM Ltd. | 0 | -100% |
| Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC | 0 | -100% |
| Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) | 0 | — |
| Visa International Service Association | 0 | -100% |
| Accenture Global Solutions Limited | 0 | — |
Where to take this next
The figures above describe the field as filed; the next step is usually narrower and specific to a product roadmap or a freedom-to-operate question.
Map claims against a specific product architecture
Compare an actual technical stack — say, TEE-backed key management on a given chip architecture — against the claim language of the ranked leaders' recent filings, not just their record counts.
Explore in EurekaTrack the co-filing pattern between integrators and specialists
The strongest co-assignee pairing in this dataset suggests a sourcing pattern worth watching for supply and licensing risk as the underlying specialist firm's portfolio grows.
Explore in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the ranked field with 283 records, more than double the fifth-place total of 95. The gap between first and second tier is steep, but the top 10 combined still account for only 29.2% of the 4,406 records in scope, meaning the majority of filings sit outside the leading firms. This pattern is typical of a field where core primitives are well established but application-layer claims remain widely distributed.
Filing activity grew substantially between 2021 and 2024, rising from 430 to 570 records — a 33% increase over that span — after an earlier peak of 741 in 2022. Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the years closest to the 2026 data cut-off will always look artificially lower than they eventually turn out to be. Treat any apparent recent-year dip as incomplete data rather than a genuine slowdown.
General-purpose digital data processing (IPC class G06F) and digital information transmission (H04L) dominate, appearing in 56.0% and 52.7% of the 4,406 records respectively, since most encryption, key-exchange and secure-channel claims fall under one or both. AI-related computing and business-process claims form a smaller second tier, each above 11%, while healthcare informatics, image recognition and wireless-specific claims each sit under 5%. Because a single record can carry multiple IPC classes, these shares add up to more than 100%.
The most-cited record in scope is a system for forming and executing contracts, cited 629 times, followed by foundational homomorphic encryption methods including bootstrappable encryption schemes cited over 240 times each. High citation counts here tend to reflect an early, foundational filing date rather than current commercial relevance, since citation counts inside any searched corpus structurally favour older records. Newer filings, including trusted-execution and multiparty-computation implementations, have not yet had time to accumulate comparable citation counts.
The clearest gaps sit at the intersection of the dominant computing classes and thinner adjacent ones — for example, differential privacy applied to healthcare informatics, zero-knowledge proofs for wireless network authentication, or homomorphic encryption applied to image and video recognition pipelines. These sub-areas show low filing density relative to the core G06F and H04L classes, which suggests less crowded claim space, though it also means less established precedent to build on. A freedom-to-operate review of the specific claim language in adjacent classes is the appropriate next step before filing.
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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.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.