Patent Landscape Analysis of GPU Design Technology in China

Tag：intellectual property-patents, telecommunications media entertainment and technology-technology

GPU, the abbreviation of Graphics Processing Unit, is originally a microprocessor used for graphic computation on personal computers, workstations, game consoles, and some mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.[1]

Although GPUs were optimized and adjusted from the structure of CPUs in the first place without specialized parts for graphic rendering, they have been widely used in various fields beyond graphic processing, including scientific computation, password cracking, numerical analysis, big data processing, and financial analysis, due to their excellent performance in massive parallel computing.

Currently, GPUs can be classified into three types: AI-GPUs, FP-GPUs, and rendering-GPUs. AI- GPUs, represented by acceleration cards for deep learning, are designed to accelerate AI workloads. FP- GPUs, on the other hand, are mainly used in supercomputing and support double-precision floating-point arithmetic for scientific computation. Rendering-GPUs are more conventional and primarily used in gaming, desktops, and other graphical applications.

According to the data from Verified Market Research, the global GPU market has estimated around USD 33.47 Billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 477.37 Billion by 2030.[2] Wherein, the GPU market size of China in 2020 is USD 4.739 billion, and it will continue to increase to USD 34.557 billion by 2027[3]. The surge in demand for GPUs and the recent upgrades of chip sanctions against China by the US may significantly stimulate China's determination in the independent development of GPUs and accelerate the country’s GPU-related R&D. This article aims to provide an insight into the current situation of GPU design in China[4] by comparing the patent data of indigenous and foreign companies.

In order to accurately count patents relevant to GPU design technology, we searched for Chinese patents of GPU design technology in the past ten years (2013-2022) using classification codes and keywords, and selected the top 10 indigenous companies and the top 10 foreign ones in terms of patent application volume. The dataset was then used for a series of comparison analysis.

I. Comparison of Patent Application Trends between Indigenous and Foreign Companies

In June 2014, the "National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Promotion Outline" was announced, which explicitly appealed for the strengthening of integrated circuit IP rights application and protection, the establishment of a national key project IP risk management system, the promotion of IP strategic alliance, and the exploration of direct IP financing method and asset management system. In 2016, the China Integrated Circuit Intellectual Property Alliance was established under the guidance of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China. Its aim is to integrate resources across the entire industrial chain and build an IC industry intellectual property organization with global influence. [5]In July of the same year, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "National Informatization Development Strategy Outline" which proposed to "build an advanced technology system, formulate a national core technology and equipment development strategy for the information field, use systematic thinking to make up for weakness, create an internationally advanced, secure, and controllable core technology system, and drive fundamental breakthroughs in weak links such as IC, basic software, and core components."

Figure 1. Patent Application Trends of Indigenous and Foreign Companies

It is precisely with the pace of series of IC-related policies that the patent application volume of indigenous companies in GPU design has been increasing, as shown in Figure 1. Before 2018, the number of patent applications in GPU design by indigenous companies was always below that of foreign companies. In 2018, the number of CN patent applications by indigenous companies was, for the first time in history, equivalent to that of foreign companies. After 2019, the number of patent applications by indigenous companies has been increasing rapidly. In the year of 2021, although a small number of patent applications have not yet been published, the number of patent applications by indigenous companies quadrupled that of foreign companies. The effective implementation of national policies is confirmed by the increase of patent applications.

II. Comparison of CN Patents of Indigenous and Foreign Companies by IPC Classification and Application Domain

Furthermore, we analyzed the patents of indigenous and foreign companies shown in Figure 1.We found that indigenous companies' patents are concentrated in the fields of electric digital data processing, computer peripheral equipment, computing models, and image data processing. Chinese companies have the highest number of patent applications for program control devices (G06F9) in the field of digital data processing, which is about 3,000 applications. The second highest number of patent applications, close to 2,000 applications, is for methods or devices for pattern recognition (G06K9) in the field of computer components. In addition, there are also around a thousand patents, respectively, related to digital data processing and information retrieval, database structure, file system structure, input devices that transform data into a form that computers can handle, and output devices for transmitting data from a processing device to an output device (G06F16&G06F3). Please see Figure 2 for details.

Figure 2: Comparison of Chinese Companies' CN Patents according to IPC Main Classification and Application Domain

Similarly, for foreign companies, a highest proportion of patents and patent applications are program control devices in the field of electric digital data processing (G06F9), indicating it is a hot field for both Chinese and foreign companies. See Figure 3 for details.

Figure 3: Comparison of Foreign Companies' CN Patents according to IPC Main Classification and Application Domain

Unlike indigenous companies, among the CN patents filed by foreign companies, the area ranked second in the number of patents and patent applications is the computer system based on biological models in the field of computer model applications (G06N3). The input device for transforming the data to be processed into a form that can be processed by a computer (G06F3), which ranked fourth among the patents of indigenous companies, moved up to the third place for foreign companies. In a word, the two groups have minor differences in the areas of focus.

III. Comparison of the Independent Claims and Claims between Indigenous and Foreign Companies

Claims are the basis for determining the scope of patent protection. They are highly relevant to the stability of the rights and the quantity of technical solutions. The more claims a patent has, the higher the protection level could possibly be. When there are more claims, there is more flexibility when facing patent challenges. The independent claims are the most important part in the claims, which define the maximum protection scope claimed by a patent. The more independent claims a patent has, the more diversified protection angles a patent could possess. In addition, in the patent system in China, if the number of claims exceeds 10, additional fees will be charged. Therefore, when the number of claims exceeds 10, it indicates that the assignee is eager to pay more for their technical solutions.

Figure 4: Distribution of Independent Claims and Claims (Indigenous Companies)

As shown in Figure 4, among the granted patents filed by indigenous GPU design companies, 54.6% are in the range of 11-20 claims, followed by 34.49% in the range of 1-10 claims, and 10.67% in the range of more than 21 claims. The above data shows for 34.49% patents, companies either want to control the spending or simply don’t have sophisticated technical solution. However, among the 34.49% under 10 claims, a majority of patents (28.84%) have 3-5 independent claims. Indigenous companies have certain awareness of protecting their inventions from multiple angles but they are still struggling with budget control. Patent with more than 11 claims account for 65.27% of total, and these patents mostly have 3-5 independent claims. Although indigenous companies have paid additional fees for more than half of the patents, 54.60% of the patents have a controlled number of claims under 20, which may indicate that the technical solutions can only reach a moderate level of complexity though the companies are willing to pay extra fees.

Figure 5: Distribution of Independent Claims and Claims (Foreign Companies)

The most common range of claims is also 11-20 claims among the patents of foreign GPU design companies as shown in Figure 5. It accounts for 54.1% of total patents which is similar to the 54.6% of Chinese companies. The second most common range is 21-50 claims, accounting for 35.06%, which is much higher than the 10.36% of indigenous companies. The proportion of 1-10 claims is only 9.9%, which differs drastically from the 34.49% of indigenous companies. The data in Figure 6 shows that only 9.9% of the patents assigned to foreign companies have the number of claims within 10. Most of those patents only have 1-2 independent claims. Notably, for foreign companies, the proportion of patents with more than 11 claims is 89.97% which is much higher than the 65.27% of indigenous companies. The main difference between the two groups is that the proportion of patents with more than 20 claims is 35.06% for foreign companies, while the proportion for Chinese companies is only 10.36%. It is obvious that foreign companies are willing to pay more fees for claims, and their technical solutions is also more complex. In terms of independent claims, both groups prefer 3-5 independent claims.

Figure 6: Distribution of Independent Claims and Claims of Indigenous and Foreign Companies

Through the comparison, we believe that indigenous companies have grown awareness of protecting their inventions from multiple angles and learned to pay additional fees for multi-level claims. However, by contrast indigenous companies are statistically lagged behind in the stability of patents and the number of technical solutions in terms of claim count. Foreign companies tend to construct a superior multilevel design for patent claims.

IV. Comparison of the Patents Pages between Chinese and Foreign Companies

Figure 7. Patents Pages of Indigenous and Foreign Companies

The number of pages of granted patent documents is an indicator of the complexity of the technical solution. In China, an additional fee of 50 Yuan per page is charged from page 31 of the specification, and an additional fee of 100 Yuan per page is charged from page 301. Therefore, the more pages there are in a patent, the higher the additional fees that the patent assignee needs to pay.

 As our database can’t separately count the number of pages of the specification, the number of pages in Figure 7 includes the bibliography and claims pages. When the number of pages exceeds 50, there is a high probability that the specification exceeds 31 pages. For patents related with more than 51-100 pages, our data shows that foreign companies have a much higher proportion (13.86%) than indigenous companies (3.34%). This result, correlating with the claim counts, indicates that foreign companies invest more in patents in GPU design technology. Statistically speaking, their technical solutions are more sophisticated than those of indigenous companies.

V. Comparison of Examination Term between Indigenous and Foreign Companies

The essence of patents is monopoly in exchange for public disclosure of the invention. The patent examination term manifests the government’s determination to support technological updates and innovation. Currently, main routes for accelerating examination in China are Rapid Pre-examination (RPE) and Prioritized Examination (PE). RPE is provided by the Patent Protection Center for pre-registered applicants. PE refers to prioritizing and expediting the examination of patent applications by CNIPA that meet certain conditions based on the applicant's request or official duty.

The essential difference between RPE and PE is that RPE is for new applications that have not yet been submitted to the CNIPA, while PE is for invention patent application that have already been submitted and entered the substantive examination stage. RPE can shrink the examination term for invention patents to around 3-6 months, while PE can shorten it to around 7-12 months.

Companies that apply for RPE need to complete registration in advance at the Patent Protection Center. The Companies need to be in the new generation information technology industry (mobile communications, the Internet, optical communications, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, radio and television networks, digital homes, mobile terminals, wearable technologies, satellite mobile communications, navigation terminals, radio and television network terminals, network and information security hardware, basic software and industrial software, integrated circuits, high-end computer manufacturing, high-end electronic equipment and instrument manufacturing, basic electronic components and materials manufacturing, microelectronics technology) or in the high-end equipment manufacturing industry (intelligent manufacturing equipment, robots and intelligent hardware, aerospace, advanced rail transit equipment, high-tech ships and marine engineering equipment, new energy vehicles). Difference provinces may have further regional requirement. Take Beijing as an example, the companies that apply for registration also need to have a good innovation foundation, a stable IP management team, and establish a standardized IP management system.

It is worth noting that generally, patent applications for RPE should not be one of the following situations: i) International patent applications filed under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT); ii) Chinese national phase entry application of the PCT international applications; iii) The utility model patents and invention patents applied by the same applicant for the same invention-creation on the same day; iv) Applications that require confidentiality examination; v) Divisional application; vi) Low quality application; vii) Involving national security or major interests; viii) Other circumstances stipulated by laws and regulations.[6]

To request PE, a patent application must meet one of the following conditions: i) The application involves national key industries including energy conservation, environmental protection, new generation information technology, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy sources, new materials, new energy vehicles, intelligent manufacturing, etc.; ii) The application involves industries that are specially encouraged by the people's governments at provincial or municipal levels; iii) The application involves internet, big data, cloud computing or the like, and the technology or product updates fast; iv) The applicant has prepared for or has started implementation, or there is evidence to prove that someone is implementing the invention; v) The application is firstly filed in China and then a counterpart with the same subject matter is filed in another country or region; or vi) Other situations that need prioritized examination due to the great significance to the national interests or public interests.[7]

Figure 8. Examination Term of Indigenous Companies

As shown in Figure 8, since 2019, some indigenous companies submitted applications and obtaining grant within one year. From 2020 to 2022, number of patents granted within one year after filing doubled on a year-to-year basis. Meanwhile, as seen in Figure 8, there are still many GPU design patents that need 2-4 years to get granted. This may be due to strategies of different companies or difficulties faced by small enterprises in meeting the conditions for RPE or PE.

Figure 9. Examination Term of Foreign Companies

Figure 9 shows the examination term for foreign companies. We did not see any instances of foreign companies obtaining patents within one year, and it normally took 4-6 years for patents to be granted. This is because foreign companies primarily apply for Chinese patents through PCT, which does not meet the prerequisite for RPE. Meanwhile, they also give up PE for other strategic reasons.

Through analysis of data, it can be concluded that since 2018, the number of GPU design patent applications from indigenous companies has been steadily increasing, far exceeding the pace of foreign companies and even reaching four times the number of foreign companies in recent years. Indigenous companies is gradually aware of the importance of R&D and they have developed mature strategies for seeking diversified solutions in patent protection. However, indigenous companies still need to strengthen the stability of patents as shown by the number of technical solutions wherein. In this regard, foreign companies appear more meticulous and comprehensive in claim layout and portfolio structure. In addition, data also indicates that indigenous companies are more adept at utilizing Chinese patent examination policies than foreign companies. 

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