Samsung Electronics Co. took the No. 2 spot in US patent grants last year, industry data showed Wednesday.

The world's top smartphone and memory chip maker, received 6,417 US patent grants in 2019, up 11 percent from the previous year, according to the data from IFI Claims Patent Services, a provider of a top global patent data platform.

Samsung has been the runner-up in IFI's US patents grants rankings since 2006. 

IBM Corp. topped the list with 9,262 grants last year, up 2 percent from a year earlier, maintaining the US company's position as the patent leader for the 27th consecutive year.

Canon Inc. was No. 3 with 3,548 grants, followed by Microsoft Corp. with 3,081 and Intel Corp. with 3,020.

LG Electronics Inc., South Korea's No. 2 electronics firm, received 2,805 grants to come in at No. 6, down one spot from a year earlier.

Other South Korean firms were Hyundai Motor Co., which ranked 20th with 1,505 grants. Hyundai's sister company, Kia Motors Co., moved up 58 spots to rank No. 41 with 921 grants.

Last year, US patent grants reached a record high of 333,530, up 15 percent from a year earlier.

By country, the US took up the largest share, at 49 percent, followed by Japan with 16 percent, South Korea with 7 percent and China with 5 percent.

The data also showed Samsung Electronics holding the top spot in terms of active patent families with 76,638, followed by IBM with 37,304 and Canon with 35,724.

Active patent families refers to the whole set of patents covering the same invention in one or more countries, measuring the size of a patent owner's global portfolio. (Yonhap)