China's IP royalty exports surge 64.9 pct in first five months

(ECNS) -- China's exports of royalties for the use of intellectual property reached 45.5 billion yuan (about $67.2035 billion) in the first five months of 2026, up 64.9 percent year on year, an official with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) said Wednesday in Beijing.

The sharp increase shows that Chinese enterprises are actively leveraging intellectual property to build new international competitive advantages and drive the country's services trade toward higher quality and better structure, Rui Wenbiao, deputy head of the CNIPA, said at a press conference.

By the end of June, China had 2.36 million high-value invention patents, with the number per 10,000 people rising to 16.8, underscoring the country's rising innovation capabilities, Rui said.

A total of 574,000 domestic enterprises held valid invention patents in the period, accounting for 425.4 million patents, or 74.8 percent of the domestic total, up 0.3 percentage points from the end of last year, he said.

Valid patents in frontier tech fields including AI, cloud computing and big data make up 16.5% of the total as of June, while Chinese applicants' filings under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Hague System for industrial designs and the Madrid System for trademark registration all remained among the world's top ranks, Rui added.

(By Intern Lin Qiaochu, Zhang Dongfang)