Analysis of patent portfolio and knowledge flow of the global semiconductor industry

This study aims to analyze semiconductor patents in following dimensions: characterizing patent, forecasting future trends, uncovering key patent, as well as proposing patent strategies for the development of semiconductor industry. In addition, this research studies investigate of patents, in 1) national, 2) industrial and 3) organizational levels, through social network analysis, two-dimensional contour map analysis and patent characteristics analysis. In this study, semiconductor patents are retrieved, on the basis of IPC, from the United State Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) database. Furthermore, the development trend and knowledge flow are investigated and visualized through the analysis of the numbers of patents, litigated patents, technological life cycle, patent citations and patent information, etc.