Hon Hai Ranks 9th Place in U.S. Patents in 2011

Taipei, Jan. 13, 2012 (CENS)--Hon Hai Precision ranked ninth place worldwide in the number of U.S patents last year, the best performance of the company ever and the only Taiwanese firm hitting the top-10 list of U.S. patents. In addition to the strengthening of patented technology, Hon Hai will also intensify its deployment in emerging markets, such as Brazil, in order to achieve the goal of NT$3 trillion for non-consolidated revenue.

Institutional investors point out that Hon Hai's extraordinary patented-technology strength underscores its departure from the confinement of contract production and will facilitate its effort to win orders from first-tier firms, such as Apple and Sony, further boosting its gross margin.

IFI CLAIMS Patent Services publicized the global rankings of U.S. patents last year, according to which Hon Hai ranks ninth place with 1,514 patents, outperforming many renowned international firms. Apple, for instance, ranks 39th place.

Statistics of IFI CLAIMS Patent Services show that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued 224,505 patents last year, up 2%. IBM ranks first place for 19th year in a row, followed by Samsung and Cannon, at second and third place, respectively.

Hon Hai has been investing heavily in patented technology in recent years. As of last year, it had ranked first place for patent applications among Taiwanese legal entities for the eighth straight year. The number and ranking of its U.S. patents has risen continuously. In addition, it has placed all of its patents on the cloud end, facilitating international utilization and management.

Terry Guo, chairman of Hon Hai Group, expressed that the company has shifted the focus of its R&D and patent deployment from quantity to quality and by 2013, the company will extend its R&D deployment to the fields of nanometer technology and bio-medicine.

Guo pointed out that nono technology can be applied in the fields of materials and even bio-medicine and solar energy. Hon Hai will also make R&D deployment in the fields of LED, human/machine interface, robot, digital certification, audio and visual compression, interface for graphic application, precision optics, and Internet communications. These R&D deployments will assure the future development of Hon Hai, since it typically takes five to 10 years for the R&D, patent application, and commercialization of new technology.

Hon Hai boasted NT$2.77 trillion of non-consolidated revenue last year, which may top NT$3 trillion this year, thanks to movement of production bases to western China, the development of emerging markets such as Brazil, and the backup of patent resources.