Samsung Electronics Co. that has aggressively increased its investment in research and development ranked second in the number of patent registrations in the United States for 11 years in a row since 2006, beating other global big name companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc.

According to global patent databases provider IFI Claims Patent Service, Samsung Electronics received 5,518 patents in the U.S. last year, up 8.8 percent from the previous year. U.S.-based technology development and consulting giant International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) acquired 8,088 patents in 2016, of which more than 2,700 patents are related to artificial intelligence, cognitive computing and cloud computing technologies, topping in the number of patent registrations in the U.S.

Samsung Electronics’ advancement in the patent race comes after it has turned more aggressive in investing in research and development. It spent 14.84 trillion won ($12.4 billion) in R&D in 2015 and 11.1 trillion won during the January to September period last year.

Japanese imaging and optical products manufacturer Canon Inc. ranked third, followed by American telecommunication equipment company Qualcomm Inc. and Google that came in fourth and fifth respectively. Another Korean electronics giant LG Electronics Inc. ranked seventh.

By Lee Dong-in

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