China's tech giant Huawei ranked fifth on the list of companies holding the most U.S. patents in 2021, according to a study recently released by Fairview Research's IFI Claims Patent Services.

Four Chinese companies are in 2021 U.S. Top 50 patents holders: Huawei ranked fifth with 2,770 U.S. patents, BOE at No. 11, Advanced New Technologies at No. 43, and OPPO at No. 49.

Chinese companies also stood out in global patent ownership.

While total U.S. patent grants declined by about 7 percent year on year, from 352,000 in 2020 to 327,329 in 2021, the most precipitous drop in the past decade, China-based companies made an increase of 10 percent, going from 18,792 awards in 2020 to 20,679 during the past year, according to IFI data.