patent families
Chinese entities
for the first time
Chinese entities account for most newly published inventions
KnowMade’s RF GaN Technology Patent Monitor identified more than 110 newly published patent families in Q2 2026, including over 70 inventions attributed to Chinese entities. Most Chinese applicants continued to focus their protection strategies on China, although Huawei, Ampleon, and San’an each filed a PCT application during the quarter. New filings across the wider RF GaN landscape were concentrated primarily in China and the United States.
By technology segment, most newly published inventions concerned RF GaN devices or the circuits and applications incorporating them. Activity related to wafers, epitaxial wafers, packaging, and modules was more limited. These figures describe disclosed patent activity during the quarter; they should not be interpreted as a direct measure of technical performance or R&D investment because patent publication timing and filing practices also affect the results.
NXP, CETC, and Sumitomo Electric stand out
Among the selected companies in KnowMade’s comparison, NXP recorded ten newly published patent families, the highest total shown. China’s CETC had eight families granted for the first time, while Sumitomo Electric combined four newly published families with three first grants. HRL, Mitsubishi Electric, and NEC each recorded two families granted for the first time.
More than 80 patent families lost at least one member during the quarter, with Intel accounting for 13 affected families. The loss of an individual family member does not necessarily mean that protection for the underlying invention has ended in every jurisdiction.
More than 30 new entrants emerge
KnowMade identified more than 30 new entrants, most of them Chinese organizations. Unicompound Semiconductor disclosed three inventions related to RF GaN HEMT engineering. The patents describe air cavities and air bridges around gate and field-plate regions to address parasitic capacitance, passivation, breakdown performance, and high-frequency operation.
Outside China, South Korea’s Seoul Viosys disclosed two inventions focused on GaN HEMT epitaxy and heterostructure engineering. The inventions address barrier and channel composition, ultrathin interlayers, defect and leakage reduction, and optimization of the two-dimensional electron gas for high-frequency applications including radar.
What continuous patent monitoring can reveal
Founded in 2009 and based in Sophia Antipolis, France, KnowMade analyzes patents and scientific publications to support technology and competitive intelligence. Its RF GaN Technology Patent Monitor covers the value chain from materials and devices to packaging, modules, circuits, and end applications. Quarterly updates track publications, grants, expirations or abandonments, and collaborations.
The service combines an analyst-curated patent database with an interactive dashboard. Users can examine assignees, technologies, countries, dates, and legal status before drilling down to individual patent families. For R&D, intellectual property, strategy, and business-development teams, this can help identify new entrants, compare protection strategies, and connect technical themes with changes in competitive positioning.
Independently edited by Troy Technical using information provided by KnowMade and the company's official public materials
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