6G patent: US / Japan - competing with China in patent application with 45% vs. 40% ratio

Recently Nihon Keizai Shimbun Electronic Edition reported the following:

6G特許、米・日と中国で競う　出願シェア45%対40%

2021年9月16日 18:00 [有料会員限定]

次世代高速通信「6G」の規格を巡り、中国と米国・日本が特許で覇権争いをしている。中核技術の特許出願数を分析したところ、中国が全体の4割とリードするが、35%の米国と1割弱の日本を合わせると拮抗する。6Gは自動運転や仮想現実（VR）など活用分野が広がる。4月の首脳会談でも日米は6Gでの連携を打ち出しており、2024年にも本格化する規格統一議論に向けて中国との攻防が激しくなりそうだ。

6Gは5Gの10倍以上の高速通信が可能で、30年ごろの商用化が見込まれている。国際組織などによる、どの技術を標準とするかなどの議論は24年にも始まる見通し。

ルール作りでの発言力にもつながる6Gの関連特許について、調査会社のサイバー創研（東京・品川）の協力を得て調査した。通信技術、量子技術、基地局技術、人工知能（AI）など9分野について、日米欧中韓と国際出願で登録・出願中の約2万件を国・地域別に分析した。

中国企業の特許は全体の40.3%に達した。2位の米国勢は35.2%、3位の日本勢は9.9%。欧州8.9%、韓国4.2%と続いた。AIを含めるなど特許の範囲が違い単純比較はできないが、5Gの標準必須特許（SEP）のシェアと比べると中国は35%から一段と比率が高まった。米国は5Gでは15%だったが、ソフト系中心に20ポイント高まった。日本は5G、6Gとも1割程度で、米日合算では中国に比肩する。

分野別でみると中国は基地局や人工衛星などインフラ系に強く、米国はソフト系に強い。基礎となる無線インターネット技術ではインフラ大手の国家電網や航空宇宙技術の中国航天科技など上位20社のうち半数超の11社を中国企業が占めた。

基地局の技術では米クアルコムやスウェーデンのエリクソン、中国の華為技術（ファーウェイ）が、AIや仮想現実（VR）などのソフト技術では米マイクロソフトや米インテルが上位に並ぶ。日本勢はアンテナ制御や電波の照射技術に強くNTT、ソニーグループ、パナソニック、三菱電機が基地局技術の上位20社に入った。

関連特許を多く持つほど今後のルール整備で優位に立つ可能性は大きい。ファーウェイの任正非最高経営責任者（CEO）は「特許を持っていなければ他人から（使うことを）強制されてしまう」と8月の社内会合で発言し、6G特許の取得を指示したことが15日に公開した議事録で明らかになった。

世界の通信規格は3G以降、複数の技術が併存することを避けるため、国際組織が協調して業界全体での規格や標準作りをしてきた。5Gでは国連の専門機関で世界の大手企業が参画する国際電気通信連合（ITU）などを舞台に、基地局と端末の特許を多く持っていたファーウェイが規格作りを主導した経緯があった。

データの抜き取りリスクなど米国の危機感は強く、ファーウェイ制裁などを通じ6Gの国際的な規格づくりでは中国の存在感を薄めたい考えだ。ただコロナ下でオンライン開催となっているITUの無線分野には米制裁後もファーウェイの技術者が数多く参加している。ただ、国際組織で「中国だけを排除して議論するのは難しい」（ITU幹部）との声もある。

中国を除いた連携は進んでいる。21年4月の日米首脳会談では6Gの研究開発に両国で今後45億ドル（約4900億円）を投じる方針を確認。異なるメーカーの基地局製品を組み合わせて使う「オープンRAN」の推進も盛り込んだ。

日本は、回線から端末までの通信に電気信号ではなく光を使うNTTの「アイオン」構想の技術を6Gの標準としたい考え。通信網の消費電力を100分の1にでき、ソニーやインテルも賛同している。採用されれば半導体や通信機器で巻き返すきっかけとなる。

欧州はエリクソンやフィンランドのオウル大学が技術概要を公表し、欧州電気通信標準化機構（ETSI）も研究グループを立ち上げた。韓国はサムスンやLG電子が6Gの開発センターを設け、政府も補助金を投じている。

Translation

China was fighting with the United States-Japan for supremacy over patents regarding the next-generation high-speed communication "6G" standard. An analysis on the number of patent applications for core technologies showed that while China was in the lead with 40% of the global total, in competition with the United States that had 35% together with Japan that had slight less than 10%. 6G could be used in a wide range of fields such as autonomous driving and virtual reality (VR). At the summit meeting in April, Japan and the United States had announced cooperation in 6G, and the offense and defense with China was likely to intensify toward the standardization debate that would begin in earnest in 2024.

6G would be capable of 10 times faster communication than 5G, and was expected to be commercialized around 2030. Discussions on which technology should be used as the standard by international organizations were expected to begin in 2024.

With the cooperation of the research company Cyber ​​Soken (Shinagawa, Tokyo), we investigated 6G-related patents, which would also lead to a voice in rule making. Approximately 20,000 registered and pending international patent applications from Japan, the United States, Europe, China and South Korea were analyzed by country / region in nine fields such as communication technology, quantum technology, base station technology, and artificial intelligence (AI).

The patents of Chinese companies reached 40.3% of the total. The US in the 2nd place was 35.2%, and the Japanese in 3rd place at 9.9%. This was followed by Europe with 8.9% and South Korea with 4.2%. As the scope of patents was different, including AI etc., it was not possible to make a simple comparison, but compared to the share of 5G standard essential patents (SEP), the ratio in China further go up from 35%. For the US, it was 15% in 5G, but increased by 20 points focusing on software. Japan had about 10% in both 5G and 6G, when calculating the US-Japan total, it was comparable to China.

By field, China was strong in infrastructure such as base stations and artificial satellites, while the United States was strong in software. In terms of basic wireless Internet technology, of the top 20 companies, 11 were Chinese companies which accounted for more than half, including the State Grid of China, which was a major infrastructure company, and China Aerospace Science and Technology, which was an aerospace technology company.

In base station technology, Qualcomm in the US, Ericsson in Sweden, and Huawei in China were ranked high, in software technologies such as AI and virtual reality (VR), and Microsoft and Intel in the US ranked at the top. The Japanese were strong in antenna control and radio wave irradiation technology;  NTT, Sony Group, Panasonic, and Mitsubishi Electric were among the top 20 companies in base station technology.

The more related patents you had, the more likely you were to have an advantage in future rule development. Huawei's Ren Zhengfei (任正非) CEO said at an internal meeting in August that he would be forced by others (to use a system) if he did not have a patent, and ordered the acquisition of a 6G patent as was revealed in the meeting minutes released on the 15th.

Since 3G, the world's communication standards had been collaborated by international organizations to create standards for the entire industry in order to avoid the coexistence of multiple technologies. In 5G, Huawei, which had many patents for base stations and terminals, had the history of leading the development of standards in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which was a specialized agency of the United Nations and in which major companies from around the world participated.

There was a strong sense of crisis in the United States, such as the risk of data extraction, and it would like to belittle China's presence in the creation of international 6G standards through Huawei sanctions and other measures. However, even after the US sanctions, many Huawei engineers had participated in the ITU radio field, which was held online during the Corona pandemic. However, some international organizations had said that it would be difficult to exclude China alone from discussions (ITU executives).

Cooperation was progressing without China. At the Japan-US summit meeting in April 2021, it was confirmed that both countries would invest 4.5 billion dollars (about 490 billion yen) in 6G research and development. It also included the promotion of "open RAN," which used a combination of base station products from different manufacturers.

Japan wanted to use NTT's "Aion" concept technology, which used light instead of electrical signals for communication from lines to terminals, as the standard for 6G. The power consumption of the communication network could be reduced to 1/100, and Sony and Intel had agreed to that. If adopted, it would be an opportunity for the coming back of semiconductors and communication equipment.

In Europe, Ericsson and the University of Oulu in Finland had published technical outlines, and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) also set up a research group. In South Korea, Samsung and LG Electronics set up 6G development centers, and the government was also subsidizing it.

              So, 6G is capable of 10 times faster communication than 5G, and is expected to be commercialized around 2030. Discussions on which technology should be used as the standard by international organizations are expected to begin in 2024. Clearly there will be a fierce discussion on what the 6G standard should be. Let's wait and see.