Where does ZTE (USA) Inc. rank among US patent assignees?

According to USPTO PatentsView (2015–2025 granted utility patents), ZTE (USA) Inc. ranks #3,646 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 ZTE (USA) Inc. hold?

ZTE (USA) Inc. holds 101 US utility patents granted between 2015 and 2020, spanning 23 technology areas.

What is ZTE (USA) Inc.'s Innovation Score?

ZTE (USA) Inc. has an Innovation Score of 42.7 out of 100 (top 30% of the corpus). This composite metric weighs portfolio volume (40%), grant velocity (20%), technology breadth (25%), and claim depth (15%).

What technology areas does ZTE (USA) Inc. focus on?

ZTE (USA) Inc.'s top technology area is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication) with 53 patents, ranking #631 of 8,956 assignees active in that subclass. Grants appear in 23 CPC subclasses total.

Is ZTE (USA) Inc.'s patent grant rate increasing or decreasing?

ZTE (USA) Inc.'s recent grant velocity is -98% compared to the prior five-year period (grant years, not application filing dates). Grant activity has slowed relative to earlier years.

What does claim depth mean for ZTE (USA) Inc.'s patents?

ZTE (USA) Inc.'s patents average 16.2 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 ZTE (USA) 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 US Corporation

ZTE (USA) Inc.

USPTO PatentsView assignee record - 101 granted patents across 23 technology areas, recorded in grant years 2015–2020. 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

RSS updates for this company

Explore the portfolio See the ranking

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, ZTE ranks #3,646 of 49,997 tracked US assignees by granted-patent volume, with 101 patents across 23 technology areas.

#3,646
of 49,997 US assignees by volume: Top 30%
by Innovation Score (42.7/100): 16.2
avg claims per patent: -98%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

USPTO PatentsView assignee plate

Corpus R3646 · US Corporation #3,646 · 101 grants

GRANTS-MID · TOP-DECILE · PHOTO-FINISH · CPC-FOCUS · INNOV-PAR · CLAIMS-RICH · TYPE-USCORP · VEL-DROP · BOOK-FULL

GRANTS-MID 101 grants
TOP-DECILE #3,646/49,997
PHOTO-FINISH Vetco Gray
CPC-FOCUS H04L · 23 areas
INNOV-PAR 42.7/100
CLAIMS-RICH 16.2 claims/avg
TYPE-USCORP US Corporation
VEL-DROP -98% vel
BOOK-FULL 10/10 fields

Nearest grant-volume peer: Vetco Gray, LLC (±0 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 ZTE’s 42.7 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 16.0 pts (37%) Velocity 0.0 pts (0%) Breadth 17.0 pts (40%) Claim depth 9.7 pts (23%)

Qualcomm Incorporated · highest

85
Altek Semiconductor · near

43
Foxlink Image… · near

43
Fujitsu Technology… · near

43
Liqid · near

43
ZTE (USA) · this assignee

43
3D Lighting… · lowest

7

What this shows ZTE's Innovation Score is 42.7/100 (top 30% 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 ZTE?

Each dot is one of ZTE’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). ZTE’s own 16.2 claims/patent is ABOVE the 13.8 median for these volume peers. More thorough claims than most filers at this scale, not just more of them.

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

Where ZTE's grants concentrate

ZTE (USA) Inc. is a focused PatentsView assignee: 23 CPC subclasses with 52.5% of grants classified under H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication). Peak complete grant year is 2016 (33 grants) versus a trough of 2 in 2020. By volume, ZTE sits between Vetco Gray, LLC and Arconic Corporation.

Vetco Gray

101
Wahl Clipper

101
West Virginia Uni…

101
Zhongshan Broad-o…

101
Zimmer Spine

101
ZTE (USA) ◀

101
ABB S P A

100
Arnold & Richter…

100
Arconic

100

What this shows ZTE holds 101 patents at rank #3,645, shown against the 8 assignees closest to it in grant volume rather than the industry's largest filers.

Companies ranked near ZTE

By rank, the assignees closest to #3,645 in granted patent volume.

Leaders in H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information)

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

Assignees with similar portfolio profiles

Two PlainPatent-derived peer sets for ZTE, neither rank-band nor same-CPC leaders (those blocks stay above). In H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information), ZTE ranks #631 of 8,956 assignees by patent count in that subclass.

Similar innovation score

Nearest assignees by Innovation Score (43 here).

Liqid Inc. 43 Fujitsu Technology Solutions Intellectual Property GmbH 43 Foxlink Image Technology Co., Ltd. 43 Altek Semiconductor Corporation 43

Similar claim depth

Nearest assignees by average claims per patent (16.2 here).

Angel Playing Cards Co., Ltd. 16.2 avg Line Plus Corporation 16.2 avg The Government of the United States, as represented by the Secretary of the Army 16.2 avg Campagnolo S.R.L. 16.2 avg

ZTE's Innovation Score vs. every tracked assignee

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

43 Top 30% higher than 70% 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 · 2015–2020

Grants by year

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

View data table

ZTE (USA) Inc. patent grants by year, 2015–2025
Year	Patents Granted	Share of Period
2015	32	31.7%
2016	33	32.7%
2017	20	19.8%
2018	8	7.9%
2019	6	5.9%
2020	2	2.0%

Which technologies does ZTE (USA) Inc. patent most?

H04L - Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication 53

H04B - Transmission 45

H04W - Wireless Communication Networks 39

H04J - Multiplex Communication 22

H04Q - Selecting 6

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 5

G06F - Electric Digital Data Processing 4

H01P - WAVEGUIDES; Resonators, Lines, OR Other Devices OF THE Waveguide Type 3

F03D - Wind Motors 2

G02B - Optical Elements, Systems OR Apparatus 2

H01Q - Antennas, i.e. Radio Aerials 2

H03M - CODING; DECODING; Code Conversion IN General 2

H03F - Amplifiers 1

H03G - Control OF Amplification 1

G01S - Radio DIRECTION-FINDING; Radio NAVIGATION; Determining Distance OR Velocity BY USE OF Radio WAVES; Locating OR Presence-detecting BY USE OF THE Reflection OR Reradiation OF Radio WAVES; Analogous Arrangements Using Other Waves 1

Top 15 of 23 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

ZTE (USA) Inc.'s patent record in context - here's where to go next.

ZTE (USA) Inc.'s lead technology class is H04L (Transmission OF Digital Information, e.g. Telegraphic Communication), 52.5% of its portfolio - see every assignee active in that class. Explore H04L
Ranked #3,646 of 49,997 tracked assignees by patent volume - see the full leaderboard. See the ranking
Compare ZTE (USA) Inc. against Vetco Gray, LLC, an assignee filing at a similar volume. Compare portfolios
Innovation Score of 42.7/100 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.