Asian Tech Press (Apr. 6) -- Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co. has become the top patent applicant at the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2021, surpassing 2020's leader Samsung.

The EPO said in a statement that it received 188,600 applications in 2021, up 4.5% year-over-year and the highest number to date.

As two of the top five countries of origin for applications at the EPO in 2021, Japan accounts for 11% of total filings, and China for 9%.

According to EPO, patent filings from Chinese companies have continued to climb steeply, more than quadrupling in the past decade, and applications from South Korea were also up 3.4% in 2021, while Japan dropped slightly by 1.2% in filings.

Huawei was the leading patent applicant at the EPO in 2021, filing 3544 patents, followed by 2020's leader Samsung, and South Korea's LG. Samsung won over Huawei with 3,276 patents in 2020, the latter with 3,113 patents.

"The strong demand for patents last year shows that innovation has remained robust," said EPO President António Campinos.