Seoul, June 7 (IANS): Samsung Electronics Co. has the third-largest number of patents related to artificial intelligence (AI), coming behind two US tech giants, a report showed on Friday.

Microsoft Corp. has the most, with 18,363 AI-related patents as of January, followed by IBM Corp. with 15,046 and Samsung with 11,243, according to the report by Germany-based researcher IPlytics.

Five of the top 10 companies were based in the United States, two in Japan, one in South Korea, one in the Netherlands and one Germany, Yonhap news agency reported.

The number of AI-related patents per year has jumped from 22,913 in 2008 to 78,085 in 2018 as more tech companies have delved into the replication of human intelligence by machines for use in a wide range of industries, it noted.

"The more countries in which an invention has been patented, the higher the perceived international market potential for the patented invention," the study said.

Samsung, also the world's largest smartphone maker, has been racing to propel innovation in AI technology to foster new growth drivers, having been working on various types of AI applications in smartphones and other electronics in its AI labs.