Yet, the surplus generated by trade in advanced technology products has declined every year since 1991. U.S. technology trade is highly concentrated. Japan and Canada are U.S. industries' largest national customers for U.S. advanced technology products. European and other OECD countries are also important customers, although several newly industrialized Asian countries purchase surprising amounts of U.S. advanced technology products at levels that rival the amounts sold to many of the more advanced European countries. The United States is also a net exporter of technological know-how sold as intellectual property.
Japan is the largest consumer of U.S. technology sold in both forms.
In 1993, South Korea rose to become the second largest consumer of U.S. technology sold as intellectual property. Data for 1992 show the United States retaining its lead position. In 1993, the total number of patents granted in the United States rose by less than 1 percent, which followed a similar increase in 1992. U.S. inventors received 54 percent of the U.S. patents granted in 1993, which continues a general upward trend for U.S. inventors that began in the late 1980s. Foreign patenting in the United States is highly concentrated by country of origin.