- Capability group
- Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
- Domain
- Critical Technology · Hard Power
- Identifier
- factbase.org/cap/AHQ2Z8FP1N
- Reference
- Superconductivity Wikipedia
Papers
62.4k
2020–2024
Paper growth
+30%
2020–24 on 2015–19
Patent families
20.6k
2020–2024
Filed abroad
32%
families in more than one office
In the framework
What the capability covers and what it leaves to others, and the indicators it will be measured by.
Bounds
Covers the enabling materials; the machines built on them sit with their own capabilities across the quantum, energy and connectivity groups, and rare-earth and speciality supply reads at this capability's control layer.
Lineage
Carried from v0.0 (formerly Advanced magnets and superconductors) with the same identifier; broadened to the photonic materials base and recast from a definition of superconductivity to the capacity to supply the materials that enable frontier machines.
Indicators
- research publication share in superconductors and magnetsResearch
- high-performance magnet production sharePending
- superconducting wire production capacityPending
Research
Papers classified to the capability, by year and by the nation of their authors' institutions, 2020–2024. Read from the v0.0 research topic Advanced magnets and superconductors.
Papers by year
The five leading nations, papers by year
Share of papers, 2020–2024
Of papers with a known author nation; 39% have none and are left out.
- 1China19.7%9,761 papers
- 2United States10.7%5,294 papers
- 3India9.4%4,674 papers
- 4Japan6.3%3,142 papers
- 5Germany6.0%2,990 papers
- 6Russia4.8%2,353 papers
- 7France3.7%1,848 papers
- 8United Kingdom3.0%1,492 papers
- 9Spain2.4%1,184 papers
- 10South Korea2.2%1,070 papers
Leading institutions, 2020–2024
By fractional count: each paper divided among its authors' institutions.
- 1Chinese Academy of Sciences350fractional papers
- 2Tohoku University254fractional papers
- 3The University of Tokyo238fractional papers
- 4National Institute for Materials Science204fractional papers
- 5Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique173fractional papers
- 6Nanjing University160fractional papers
- 7Xi'an Jiaotong University156fractional papers
- 8Oak Ridge National Laboratory146fractional papers
- 9University of Science and Technology of China144fractional papers
- 10Beihang University143fractional papers
Patents
Patent families by the nation of origin of their applicants and their earliest priority year, from the CPC and IPC classes the capability is read from. 2025 onwards is incomplete: families are published 18 months after priority.
Families by priority year
The five leading origins, families by year
6,541 applicants filed here in 2015–2024; the five largest held 8% of families (HHI 28 of 10,000: unconcentrated).
Share of families by origin, 2020–2024
- 1China54.7%11,272 families
- 2Japan18.2%3,740 families
- 3South Korea10.5%2,162 families
- 4United States7.5%1,536 families
- 5Germany2.3%468 families
- 6France1.0%209 families
- 7Taiwan0.8%172 families
- 8United Kingdom0.7%142 families
- 9Switzerland0.4%88 families
- 10Canada0.4%80 families
Applicants filing most internationally, 2015–2024
Families filed in more than one office, by applicant as the offices name them.
- 1TDK CORP473international families
- 2NIPPON STEEL CORP362international families
- 3JFE STEEL CORP323international families
- 4SUMITOMO ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES258international families
- 5NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORP231international families
- 6MURATA MANUFACTURING CO223international families
- 7POSCO CO LTD212international families
- 8SAMSUNG ELECTRO MECH152international families
- 9SHINETSU CHEMICAL CO146international families
- 10SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD145international families
Classification read
- H01F1/00 Magnetic materials, including rare-earth permanent magnet alloys · 214.9k documents
- H01F7/02 Permanent magnets · 40.6k documents
- H01F6/00 Superconducting magnets and coils · 28.8k documents
- H01B12/00 Superconducting wires, cables and conductors · 17k documents
- H10N60/85 Superconducting active materials · 9.2k documents
- H10N60/01 Manufacture of superconducting devices, wires and tapes · 40.7k documents
- C04B35/45 Copper-oxide ceramics, the high-temperature superconductors · 9k documents
- Y10S505/00 Older US superconductor technology collection · 41.7k documents
- G02F1/355 Non-linear optical materials · 16.9k documents
- H01S3/16 Solid laser gain materials · 48k documents
- C03C13/04 Glass compositions for optical fibre · 11.6k documents
- C03B37/012 Preforms for drawing optical fibre · 65.2k documents
Shares inventions with
Capabilities whose classes the same families also fall in, by overlap (Jaccard).
- Quantum Computing687 families · 0.038
- Directed Energy Technologies411 families · 0.029
- Advanced Optical Communication & Photonics1,397 families · 0.023
- Nanomaterials & Metamaterials645 families · 0.017
- Structural & Composite Materials377 families · 0.010
Companies
50 companies in this capability, across 8 regions. The leading 12:
- 1Shin-Etsu ChemicalMajor producer of sintered NdFeB and SmCo rare-earth magnets, synthetic quartz for optical-fibre preforms, and lithium tantalate/niobate photonic crystals; a top international patent applicant in this field.Manufacture
- 2Proterial (formerly Hitachi Metals)Owns the original NEOMAX sintered NdFeB magnet technology and patents, and makes ferrite magnets and amorphous and nanocrystalline soft magnetic alloys; taken private by a Bain Capital consortium in 2023.Manufacture
- 3JL MAG Rare-EarthAmong the world's largest makers of high-performance NdFeB magnets, supplying EV traction motors (including Tesla and BYD) and wind turbines.Manufacture
- 4TDKFounded to commercialise ferrite, TDK makes ferrite and NdFeB magnets and magnetic materials, and is the leading international patent applicant in this capability.Manufacture
- 5China Northern Rare Earth GroupWorld's largest light rare-earth producer, using Bayan Obo feedstock to supply the NdPr oxide and metals behind global NdFeB magnet output; it also makes magnet materials.Equipment & materials
- 6China Rare Earth GroupCentral state-owned group formed in 2021 by merging China's heavy rare-earth producers; it controls most dysprosium and terbium supply for high-coercivity magnets.Equipment & materials
- 7Furukawa Electric (SuperPower)Makes NbTi and Nb3Sn low-temperature superconducting wire and, through US subsidiary SuperPower, REBCO second-generation HTS tape; it also makes optical fibre.Manufacture
- 8Sumitomo Electric IndustriesSole volume producer of DI-BSCCO (Bi-2223) HTS wire, and a major maker of optical fibre and compound-semiconductor (GaAs, InP) substrates.Manufacture
- 9Western Superconducting TechnologiesChina's leading NbTi and Nb3Sn superconducting wire maker, supplying ITER conductor and MRI magnet wire, and also making titanium alloys.Manufacture
- 10Ningbo YunshengLarge Chinese maker of sintered and bonded NdFeB magnets for automotive, industrial motors and consumer electronics.Manufacture
- 11Beijing Zhong Ke San Huan Hi-TechOne of China's largest NdFeB magnet producers, spun out of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with joint ventures with Hitachi Metals.Manufacture
- 12VACUUMSCHMELZEEurope's leading producer of rare-earth permanent magnets and soft magnetic alloys; it is building the eVAC NdFeB magnet plant in South Carolina for GM.Manufacture