Where does NEC Corporation rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), NEC Corporation ranks #35 of 49,997 assignees by granted-patent volume, the same sort as the companies listing and top-holders ranking. See /methodology/#corpus-placement.

How many patents does NEC Corporation hold?

NEC Corporation holds 9,672 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 263 technology areas.

What is NEC Corporation's Innovation Score?

NEC Corporation has an Innovation Score of 71.5 out of 100 (top 1% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does NEC Corporation focus on?

NEC Corporation's top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 2,668 patents, ranking #15 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 263 CPC subclasses total.

Is NEC Corporation's patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

NEC Corporation's recent grant velocity is +11% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). The company is maintaining or growing its granted-patent output.

What does claim depth mean for NEC Corporation's patents?

NEC Corporation's patents average 12.9 claims each. This is an aggregate descriptive count from the grant record; it does not establish claim scope, legal strength, enforceability, or design-around risk.

How is the NEC Corporation patent data sourced?

All patent data comes from USPTO PatentsView, a public research dataset maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office covering US granted utility patents from 2015 to 2025.

USPTO 2015–2025 USPTO PatentsView Foreign Corporation

NEC Corporation

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 9,672 granted patents across 263 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2025. Grant-trend analysis is cross-referenced to USPTO Patent Public Search; it does not measure application filings, current R&D, or legal strength. Primary class: H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, NEC ranks #35 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 9,672 patents across 263 technology areas.

#35
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (71.5/100): 12.9
avg claims per patent: +11%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R35 · Foreign Corporation #35 · 9,672 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · NEAR-PEER · CPC-BROAD · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-UP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 9.7K grants
TOP-DECILE #35/49,997
NEAR-PEER Fujitsu
CPC-BROAD H04L · 263 areas
INNOV-STRONG 71.5/100
CLAIMS-RICH 12.9 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-UP +11% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Fujitsu Limited (±18 grants)

Instrument codes from this assignee’s USPTO PatentsView grant sheet: volume band, corpus rank, photo-finish peer, lead CPC, Innovation Score, claim depth, assignee type, velocity, and book completeness. Not a USPTO rating of patent strength.

How NEC’s 71.5 Innovation Score adds up

The same four weighted components behind every Innovation Score on PlainPatent: portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth.

Volume 31.7 pts (44%) Velocity 7.0 pts (10%) Breadth 25.0 pts (35%) Claim depth 7.8 pts (11%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
GM Global Technology… · near

72
T-Mobile USA · near

72
NEC · this assignee

71
The Regents of the… · near

71
Oshkosh · near

71
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows NEC's Innovation Score is 71.5/100 (top 1% of the PatentsView-derived corpus). The chart places that score against the nearest Innovation Score peers plus corpus poles, not a reprint of the volume ranking.

Does more volume mean deeper claims for NEC?

Each dot is one of NEC’s 8 nearest volume peers (same corpus rank neighbourhood as the chart above), placed by total granted patents (horizontal) against average claims per patent (vertical). NEC’s own 12.9 claims/patent is at or below the 14.7 median for these volume peers. Volume here does not track with deeper claims; several lower-volume peers claim more thoroughly per patent.

NEC vs its 8 nearest volume peers: granted patents vs average claims per patent. Source: USPTO PatentsView.

How NEC's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, NEC Corporation received 4,646 grants versus 4,195 in 2015–2019 (+11% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2024 at 1,111 grants and bottomed in 2018 at 723. Lead class H04L accounts for 27.6% of the portfolio across 263 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Ricoh Company, Ltd. (#31) and Denso Corporation (#39).

NEC's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, NEC Corporation moved from 2,720 to 2,863 grants (1.05x the prior three-year total, a multiple, not a CAGR). Among 3,296 tracked assignees with ≥100 grants and ≥20 prior-period grants, that multiple ranks #1,057. See the growth leaderboard.

Ricoh

10,223
Dell Products

10,222
Texas Instruments…

9,915
SK hynix

9,830
NEC ◀

9,672
Fujitsu

9,654
Koniniklijke Phil…

9,647
AT&T Intellectual…

9,554
Denso

9,480

What this shows NEC holds 9,672 patents at rank #35, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near NEC

By rank, the assignees closest to #35 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

Other assignees with the most granted patents in NEC's primary technology class.

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for NEC, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information), NEC ranks #15 of 8,956 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (71 here).

T-Mobile USA, Inc. 72 The Regents of the University of California 71 GM Global Technology Operations LLC 72 Oshkosh Corporation 71

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (12.9 here).

Kaneka Corporation 12.9 avg Advanced Connectek Inc. 12.9 avg Kohler Mira Limited 12.9 avg TD Ameritrade IP Company, Inc. 12.9 avg

NEC's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

Composite of portfolio volume, grant velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth (0–100)

71 Top 1% higher than 99% of 49,997 US assignees

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US assignees. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source USPTO PatentsView, PlainPatent Innovation Score · 2015–2025

USPTO utility patent grants by year · 2015–2025

Grants by year

Teal-shaded recent years (2020–present) versus the 2015–2019 baseline. Full figures in the table below.

View data table

NEC Corporation patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	807	8.3%
2016	900	9.3%
2017	828	8.6%
2018	723	7.5%
2019	937	9.7%
2020	947	9.8%
2021	836	8.6%
2022	926	9.6%
2023	826	8.5%
2024	1,111	11.5%
2025partial year	831	8.6%

Which technologies does NEC Corporation patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 2,668

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 2,621

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 2,314

G06V - Image OR Video Recognition OR Understanding 1,631

G06T - Image Data Processing OR Generation, IN General 1,252

H04B - Transmission 1,103

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 854

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 698

G06Q - Information AND Communication Technology [ICT] Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory PURPOSES; Systems OR Methods Specially Adapted FOR Administrative, Commercial, Financial, Managerial OR Supervisory Purposes, NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 637

H04J - Multiplex Communication 354

G08B - Signalling OR Calling SYSTEMS; Order TELEGRAPHS; Alarm Systems 322

Y02E - Reduction OF Greenhouse GAS [GHG] Emissions, Related TO Energy Generation, Transmission OR Distribution 304

H04M - Telephonic Communication 302

Y02D - Climate Change Mitigation Technologies IN Information AND Communication Technologies [ICT], I.E. Information AND Communication Technologies Aiming AT THE Reduction OF Their OWN Energy USE 288

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 243

Top 15 of 263 technology areas

More on this record

Data Source

USPTO PatentsView, US granted patents 2015–2025

View all rankings → How is Innovation Score calculated?

What to do with this data

NEC Corporation's patent record in context - here's where to go next.

NEC Corporation's lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 27.6% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #35 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare NEC Corporation against Ricoh Company, Ltd., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 71.5/100 blends volume, velocity, technology breadth, and claim depth. How it's calculated

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through May 2026; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Data sourced from USPTO PatentsView - official U.S. government patent data. See our methodology for computation details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainPatent

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the USPTO PatentsView database. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sources used on this page

USPTO PatentsView - the disambiguated bulk patent-grant, assignee, and CPC data this page's figures are derived from. patentsview.org
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) - the joint USPTO/EPO classification scheme used to group patents by technology area. cooperativepatentclassification.org
USPTO Patent Public Search - the official interface to verify the status of any individual patent. ppubs.uspto.gov

Compiled by PlainPatent , US Patent Intelligence Editorial Process · May 15, 2026

Every figure on PlainPatent is rendered directly from USPTO source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on USPTO source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 2026.