5G通信技术在过去10年发展迅速，以华为作为代表的后发企业在5G通信领域实现了追赶与领先。本文从专利等视角展开分析，试图描述5G通信领域技术演化特征，识别5G技术发展过程中的主要参与主体，并解释后发企业华为如何通过战略布局实现技术追赶。本文创新的细分领域分析、主体主路径分析等方法，对5G专利研究提供了新的思路，也丰富了后发企业追赶的研究方法。本文选择德温特专利数据库，检索公开年在2000-2020的5G通信领域专利，进行清洗与手动标记后，展开专利研究与社会网络分析，分别构建了专利引证网络、主体引证网络、细分技术领域的主体引证网络进行研究。本文通过专利分析了5G通信技术的演进，主要结论如下：全球5G通信专利伴随国际电信联盟制定时间表发展，申请地在中国的专利是推动发展的重要力量；三星、华为、博通等企业在5G技术发展中有较大贡献，华为在公开年2017年取代博通成为网络的中心；5G通信领域涵盖广泛， SDN、D2D、Duplex、LDPC、MMW、MIMO是占比最大的细分领域， SDN与D2D是中后期带动5G专利发展的重点技术。本文通过专利视角研究了后发企业追赶，发现战略布局是后发企业华为实现追赶的重要因素，主要结论如下：1）专利数量的布局广泛有助于后发追赶，在专利引证网络中，华为在各社区各领域都有专利布局，而博通专利重点集中在LDPC领域，失去了一些其它技术领域的发展机会。2）从IPC分类号看，华为重点布局在H04L（无线网络通信），在小类中重点布局H04L0012（数据交换网络），与竞争对手形成差异。3）从细分领域角度看，华为在SDN、D2D等增长迅速的重点领域的战布局是其实现追赶的重要原因，华为出现在SDN与D2D的主体主路径中。

5G communication technology has developed rapidly in the past 10 years. Late-comers like Huawei have caught up and taken the leading position. Using the patent data, this paper attempts to describe the technological evolution of 5G, identify the main participants and explain how a latecomer like Huawei realized technological catch-up using strategic layout. The innovative segment technology analysis and main path analysis for participants enrich the research methods for 5G patent analysis and latecomers’ catch-up. This paper conducts social network analysis base on the 2000-2020 5G patent data from Derwent Innovation and constructs the citation network of patents and participants.This paper analyzes the evolution of 5G technology through patents, and the main conclusions are as follows: Global 5G patents increased along with the timetable set by the ITU and the Patents applied in China showed a great growth. Participants like Samsung, Huawei and Broadcom have made great contributions to the development of 5G. Huawei replaced Broadcom as the network center in 2017. The 5G covers a wide range of technology such as SDN, D2D, Duplex, LDPC, MMW and MIMO. Among them, SDN and D2D are key technologies that drive the development of 5G patents in the middle and later stages.This paper studies the catch-up of latecomer enterprises from the perspective of patent and identify the importance of Strategic layout in catch-up. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) The wide distribution of patents is conducive to latecomers’ catch-up. Huawei has patents in various communities and fields, while Broadcom focuses on the LDPC losing the development opportunity in other fields. 2) For IPC code, differing from its competitors, Huawei focuses on H04L (wireless network communication) and H04L0012 (data exchange network). 3) Huawei's strategic layout in SDN and D2D leads to its catch-up. Huawei appears in the main path in the field of SDN and D2D.