CPC technology class · C22

C22C - Alloys

Alloys. 16,292 US utility patents granted 2015–2025, with the leading assignees and year-by-year grant trajectory.

Compiled by PlainPatent · May 15, 2026

16,292
US patents granted: #1/3
in C22: 71.2%
C22 class share: +16%
5-yr velocity

The verdict

According to USPTO PatentsView, Alloys ranks #116 of 670 CPC technology areas - 16,292 US patents granted since 2015, with recorded grant volume up 16% over five years.

#116
of 670 CPC technology areas: 16,292
US patents granted, 2015–2025: Jfe Steel
leading assignee (870): +16%
grant velocity, last 5 yrs

How C22C's grant cadence moved

Between 2020–2024, C22C recorded 7,323 grants versus 6,328 in 2015–2019 (+16% equal-window velocity). Across complete years, output peaked in 2019 at 1,615 grants and bottomed in 2015 at 972 (+66% peak-over-trough). Lead assignee JFE Steel Corporation holds 5.3% of the class ; the top three share 12.4%.

Leaderboard read

C22C concentration, lead at 5.3%

JFE Steel Corporation leads this historical grant record at 5.3% of C22C - foreign corporation assignees hold 79% of class grants (8,251 of 10,385). Figures describe granted US utility patents in this CPC subclass, not current investment or legal strength.

Leader's share: 5.3%
Top three share: 12.4%
Lead over #2: 179

Where C22C sits inside C22

Among 3 subclasses in C22 (METALLURGY; Ferrous OR Non-ferrous ALLOYS; Treatment OF Alloys OR Non-ferrous Metals), C22C ranks #1 and holds 71.2% of the parent class's 22,892 recorded grants. Sibling chips below are the other subclasses in the same parent class, not the nationwide volume/lead-share peers further down.

C22F 3,437 C22B 3,163

Rising assignees active in C22C

Company-wide grant multiples (2022–2024 vs 2019–2021) among assignees with ≥5 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide; class patent counts are subclass-specific.

#1 Proterial, Ltd. 139x 0 → 139 company-wide · 52 in C22C
#2 GE Infrastructure Technology LLC 80x 2 → 160 company-wide · 8 in C22C
#3 JX Metals Corporation 41x 0 → 41 company-wide · 12 in C22C
#4 AB Sandvik Coromant 17x 0 → 17 company-wide · 9 in C22C
#5 JX Advanced Metals Corporation 12x 0 → 12 company-wide · 9 in C22C

C22C grants by year, peak 2019 (1,615)

US utility-patent grants per year in C22C, 2015–2025 - recent five years are up 16% versus 2015–2019.

Jfe Steel

870
Nippon Steel

691
Posco

464
Nippon Steel &…

420
Hitachi

254
Kobe Steel

233
Sumitomo Electric…

190
Arcelormittal

181
Tdk

170
Mitsubishi Materials

170
Jx Nippon Mining &…

152
Senju Metal Industry

117

What this shows Jfe Steel is the most active filer in C22C, holding 870 of the 16,292 patents in this class. Concentration at the top signals how contestable this technology area is for new entrants.

View data table

Top patent holders in CPC subclass C22C
Rank	Company	Patents in C22C
#1	JFE Steel Corporation	870
#2	Nippon Steel Corporation	691
#3	Posco Co., Ltd	464
#4	Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation	420
#5	Hitachi, Ltd.	254
#6	Kobe Steel Ltd.	233
#7	Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd.	190
#8	ArcelorMittal	181
#9	TDK Corporation	170
#10	Mitsubishi Materials Corporation	170
#11	JX Nippon Mining & Metals Corporation	152
#12	Senju Metal Industry Co., Ltd.	117
#13	Baker Hughes Holdings LLC	116
#14	Uacj Corporation	116
#15	Baoshan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.	108
#16	US Synthetic Corporation	89
#17	ATI Properties LLC	80
#18	Novelis Inc.	74
#19	Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.	73
#20	Tanaka Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.	68

Footprint here vs. claim strategy

Each dot is a leading C22C assignee, placed by how many patents it holds in this class (horizontal) against its company-wide average claims per patent (vertical) - a read on whether the class is led by broad-but-shallow filers or focused deep-claim players.

Top 14 C22C assignees by class footprint. Bubble size = patents in C22C. Source: USPTO PatentsView (claim depth is company-wide across all classes).

Classes near C22C's 16,292-grant footprint

Nationwide nearest neighbors for C22C (#116 of 670 by volume ; lead share 5.3%) - not the C22 parent-class siblings above.

Nearest by grant volume

F02C 16,237 G01J 16,402 F04D 16,174 A63B 16,525

Nearest by lead-assignee share

B61K 5.3% A01P 5.4% H01F 5.4% C08F 5.4%

Questions about C22C

Which company holds the most patents in C22C?

JFE Steel Corporation leads C22C with 870 patents (5.3% of the subclass). By PatentsView assignee type, foreign corporations account for 79% of class grants.

Which C22C assignees grew fastest recently?

Among assignees with ≥5 grants in C22C, Proterial, Ltd. shows the highest company-wide grant multiple (139x: 0 grants in 2019–2021 → 139 in 2022–2024) while holding 52 patents in this subclass. Growth is company-wide, not class-only.

How does C22C compare inside parent class C22?

Inside C22 (METALLURGY; Ferrous OR Non-ferrous ALLOYS; Treatment OF Alloys OR Non-ferrous Metals), C22C ranks #1 of 3 subclasses by grant volume and holds 71.2% of the parent class total. The largest sibling is C22F (3,437 grants).

What to do with this data

C22C in context - here's where to go next.

JFE Steel Corporation leads C22C with 870 grants in this class. See full portfolio
C22C ranks #116 of 670 by grant volume among all tracked CPC technology areas. See the ranking
Inside parent class C22, the largest sibling subclass is C22F with 3,437 grants. Explore C22F

Figures reflect USPTO PatentsView grant data through 2026-05-15; pending applications not yet granted are not counted.

Methodology - C22C figures are USPTO PatentsView granted-utility totals for this subclass (16,292 grants in the tracked window).

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.