Where does SK hynix Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), SK hynix Inc. ranks #34 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 SK hynix Inc. hold?

SK hynix Inc. holds 9,830 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2025, spanning 115 technology areas.

What is SK hynix Inc.'s Innovation Score?

SK hynix Inc. has an Innovation Score of 73.4 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 SK hynix Inc. focus on?

SK hynix Inc.'s top technology area is G11C (Static Stores) with 4,635 patents, ranking #3 of 882 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 115 CPC subclasses total.

Is SK hynix Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

SK hynix Inc.'s recent grant velocity is +2% 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 SK hynix Inc.'s patents?

SK hynix Inc.'s patents average 16.4 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 SK hynix Inc. 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

SK hynix Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 9,830 granted patents across 115 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: G11C (Static Stores).

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

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The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, SK ranks #34 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 9,830 patents across 115 technology areas.

#34
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 1%
by Innovation Score (73.4/100): 16.4
avg claims per patent: +2%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R34 · Foreign Corporation #34 · 9,830 grants

GRANTS-LARGE · TOP-DECILE · CLEAR-GAP · CPC-WIDE · INNOV-STRONG · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-FRNCORP · VEL-FLAT · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-LARGE 9.8K grants
TOP-DECILE #34/49,997
CLEAR-GAP Texas Instruments…
CPC-WIDE G11C · 115 areas
INNOV-STRONG 73.4/100
CLAIMS-RICH 16.4 claims/avg
TYPE-FRNCORP Foreign Corp
VEL-FLAT +2% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Texas Instruments Incorporated (±85 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 SK’s 73.4 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 31.8 pts (43%) Velocity 6.8 pts (9%) Breadth 25.0 pts (34%) Claim depth 9.8 pts (13%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Oracle International · near

73
SK hynix · this assignee

73
Beijing Bytedance… · near

73
L3Harris · near

73
ZF CV Systems… · near

73
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows SK's Innovation Score is 73.4/100 (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 SK?

Each dot is one of SK’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). SK’s own 16.4 claims/patent is ABOVE the 14.7 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

How SK's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, SK hynix Inc. received 4,665 grants versus 4,563 in 2015–2019 (+2% equal-window velocity, above median growth). Across complete PatentsView years, output peaked in 2022 at 1,130 grants and bottomed in 2024 at 748. Lead class G11C accounts for 47.2% of the portfolio across 115 subclasses. Volume neighbours: Cisco Technology, Inc. (#30) and AT&T Intellectual Property I, L.P. (#38).

SK's three-year grant acceleration

From 2019–2021 to 2022–2024, SK hynix Inc. moved from 2,710 to 2,762 grants (1.02x 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 #1,132. See the growth leaderboard.

Cisco Technology

10,299
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

What this shows SK holds 9,830 patents at rank #34, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near SK

By rank, the assignees closest to #34 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in G11C (Static Stores)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for SK, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In G11C (Static Stores), SK ranks #3 of 882 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (73 here).

Oracle International Corporation 73 Beijing Bytedance Network Technology Co., Ltd. 73 ZF CV Systems Europe BV 73 L3Harris Technologies, Inc. 73

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (16.4 here).

Telecom Italia S.p.A. 16.4 avg Yara International ASA 16.4 avg Hexcel Corporation 16.4 avg Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd. 16.4 avg

SK's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

73 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

SK hynix Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	889	9.0%
2016	1,124	11.4%
2017	943	9.6%
2018	800	8.1%
2019	807	8.2%
2020	939	9.6%
2021	964	9.8%
2022	1,130	11.5%
2023	884	9.0%
2024	748	7.6%
2025partial year	602	6.1%

Which technologies does SK hynix Inc. patent most?

G11C - Static Stores 4,635

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 3,218

H10B - Electronic Memory Devices 1,982

H01L - Semiconductor Devices NOT Covered BY Class H10 1,653

H10D - Inorganic Electric Semiconductor Devices 1,205

H03K - Pulse Technique 699

H10N - Electric Solid-state Devices NOT Otherwise Provided FOR 563

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 482

H03M - CODING; DECODING; Code Conversion IN General 414

H04N - Pictorial Communication, e.g. Television 378

H10F - Inorganic Semiconductor Devices Sensitive TO Infrared Radiation, Light, Electromagnetic Radiation OF Shorter Wavelength OR Corpuscular Radiation 289

G01R - Measuring Electric VARIABLES; Measuring Magnetic Variables 225

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 163

G05F - Systems FOR Regulating Electric OR Magnetic Variables 147

G06N - Computing Arrangements Based ON Specific Computational Models 144

Top 15 of 115 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

SK hynix Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

SK hynix Inc.'s lead technology class is G11C (Static Stores), 47.2% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore G11C
Ranked #34 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare SK hynix Inc. against Cisco Technology, Inc., an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 73.4/100 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.