According to a report released recently by the U.S. Commercial Patent Database, the number of patents for invention approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2017 reached a new high of 320,000, an increase of 5.2% over the same period of last year. Among them, the performance of enterprises in China's mainland was very eye-catching, with more than 11,000 patents approved, an increase of 28% over the previous year. Among all the approvd patents, U.S. companies accounted for 46%, Asian companies accounted for 31% and European companies accounted for 15%. In terms of corporate rankings, IBM continued to lead the industry, ranking the first place for 25 years in a row, with 9,043 new patents granted and 3,206 more than the second in the rank, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. in the Republic of Korea. Chinese companies had a remarkable performance. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. had 1,474 patents approved, an increase of 23% over the same period of last year, ranking 20th, up 5 in the ranking than the previous year. The report also said that the monitor and sensing equipment maker BOE Technology Group achieved a "big leap forward" from the fortieth to the twenty-first, the number of patents was 1,413, up 62% than the previous year. Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronic Technology Co., Ltd. is also among the top 50 in the enterprise list, ranking the 45th with 708 patents. In terms of technology, computers, communications and medical patents are still the mainstream, with the fastest-growing areas of electronic cigarettes, 3D printing and autonomous vehicles.