Patent data platform IFI Claims released its annual ranking of leading U.S. companies in the intellectual property space. San Diego’s Qualcomm once again ranked third, behind Samsung (No. 1) and TMSC. Qualcomm patents were up slightly year-over-year with 3,749 patents in 2025.
Worldwide, U.S. companies had the highest number of U.S. patents with 136,131 – slightly less than half of total patents awarded. Japan was the second highest with 15%, followed by China and South Korea.
Total U.S. patent grants were down 0.24% in 2025 and down 9% since grants peaked in 2019. Declining grants, in part, according to the IFI, is a backlog inventory of 1.2 million patent applications that are currently waiting for review or approval from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
For a look at patents that were approved for San Diego tech companies, including Qualcomm, check out or special report on local companies that brought their innovations to CES 2026 found on page 9.
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While Qualcomm was busy making news at CES this month, the company’s retired founder also made news with a sizeable check supporting cherished arts organizations. Irwin Jacobs announced Jan. 8 a gift to the San Diego Opera of $4.5 million to support a special ongoing collaboration with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.
The new Joan and Irwin Jacobs San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera Collaboration Fund will continue the existing joint presentations of operas backed by the symphony, including performances in this year’s opera season that still include Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville” in February, Bizet’s “Carmen” in March and the Southern California premiere of the Greg Pierce-composed “Fellow Travelers” in July.
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Tyson & Mendes co-founder Robert Tyson is headed back to his alma mater Villanova University, this time as a member of the school’s board of trustees. The attorney who coined the term for excessive jury awards in lawsuits – “nuclear verdicts” – and defends companies from them has kept a close relationship with Villanova for many years and previously served as president of the San Diego chapter of the Villanova University Alumni Association and as a member of the school’s President’s Advisory Council.
Tyson also tapped Villanova University School of Business Professor Nathan Coates to help launch insurtech startup Schaefer City Technologies.
Tyson described Villanova as playing “a formative role” in his career.
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Aptera Motors is beefing up its leadership structure. The company announced Jan. 8 it had elevated Tony Kirton to the position of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Kirton – who has 40-plus years in the automotive industry at companies like Volkswagen, Audi and BMW – previously served Aptera as an independent board director on a board that included himself, Independent Board Director Todd Butz and Co-CEOs Chris Anthony and Steve Fambro.
In the announcement of his new role, Kirton praised Aptera’s promising technology “engineered from first principles, with efficiency at its core.”
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San Diego is on the shortlist of just three cities in the running to host the 2029 Invictus Games. America’s Finest City is the only U.S. city on the list that also includes Aalborg in Denmark and Daejeon in Republic of Korea. The successful host city will be announced this summer, after a series of site visits and assessments by the Invictus Games Foundation to each location.
The Invictus Games are an international multi-sport event for wounded, injured, and sick military personnel and veterans, founded by Prince Harry in 2014. San Diego’s British American Business Council leads the effort to bring the event here, which it estimates could have a $47 million economic impact on the region.
