TSMC was Honored with the Highest Level of TIPS AAA Certification

TSMC has been protecting R&D innovation and operation development by way of utilizing patents and trade secrets as dual tracks under the established comprehensive IP management system, which earned TSMC a AAA (the highest tier) certification from Taiwan Intellectual Property Management System (TIPS) in 2022 on the first application attempt in 2021. TSMC is the first and only company to receive the recognition.

Building a Robust Patent Management System to Construct a Comprehensive Patent Portfolio

For the purpose of effective patent application and protection, TSMC’s Intellectual Patent Division (IPD) established a robust patent management system, which comprehensively constructs the patent territory through five strategies and four enforcement measures. IPD works closely with the R&D team to jointly develop short, medium and long term technology plans to capture innovative technologies through intellectual property protection with priority legal effect. Meanwhile, IPD held many Innovative Invention Forums to encourage employees to submit invention disclosures for TSMC to deploy key patents with strategic value in advance. For example, more than 10 forums have been held in recent 2 years, with 1,000+ inventions having been submitted collectively.

TSMC has constructed a tremendous global patent portfolio in the semiconductor field. As of May 2022, TSMC has accumulated more than 75,000 patent applications and 52,000+ patents worldwide, ranking No. 3 among global US patent applicants for 2 consecutive years and No. 1 among patent applicants in Taiwan for 6 consecutive years. In terms of patent quality, the approval rate of TSMC’s applications in multiple countries were above 99% and even approached 100% in the US, highest among the top 10 US patentees, in 2021. TSMC continues to strengthen technology leadership and business competitiveness.

TSMC's Patent Management Approach

Intellectual Property Campaign and Diversified IP Promotion to Encourage Innovation Culture and Inventions Outputs

To encourage employee innovative inventions and increase invention quality, TSMC established special patent awards for New Inventor, Patent Campaign, Special Contribution and Prolific Inventor. The Patent Campaign award attracted more than 3,300 invention disclosures in 2021. The Prolific Inventor award is given out to inventor employees who received more than 100 US patents since joining the company; 110 prolific inventors have received this award as of now. TSMC also hosted a variety of intellectual property promotional activities to enhance employees' awareness. In 2021, a total of 21 on-site intellectual property trainings were held to help employees improve their invention submissions, attracting more than 2,000 participants; and around 2,000 employees participated in patent knowledge games to strengthen intellectual property awareness.

Establish a Profound Patent Protection Environment; Promote Enhancement in both Industry and Intellectual Property Fields

Adhering to a vision of improving sustainability for our society, TSMC continues to simultaneously promote upgrading of industrial technology and intellectual property rights. Through interacting with intellectual property agencies and judicial courts, co-working with industrial institutes to develop technologies and generate intellectual property outputs, cooperating with research institutes as an intellectual property strategic alliance, and participating in amendments of intellectual property related laws and providing industrial policy advice, TSMC assists in establishing a sound patent protection environment and implement our corporate social responsibility for sustainable operations.