- Huawei and Qualcomm signed a multi-year patent licensing deal covering 5G, compute, AI and networking technologies
- The companies did not disclose financial terms
- The deal recognizes both Qualcomm’s foundational 5G patents and Huawei’s contributions to 4G and 5G standards
Disputes over patent contributions in wireless technologies can get nasty, but Huawei and Qualcomm are here to say they’ve agreed to a new multi-year patent deal covering a range of technologies, including 5G, AI, compute and networking.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In a joint statement, the companies said the agreement reflects the companies' shared commitment to intellectual property rights and to licensing practices consistent with fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principles.
Qualcomm has invested in foundational wireless technologies for successive generations and this agreement “reaffirms industry recognition of Qualcomm’s 5G technology leadership and the success of Qualcomm’s 5G SEP [standard-essential patent] licensing program,” said John Han, EVP and general manager of Qualcomm Technology Licensing, in a statement.
He added that the agreement also reflects Qualcomm's recognition of Huawei's “continued innovation and intellectual property in 5G and other technology fields.”
Huawei's 4G/5G contributions
For its part, Huawei noted that its decades-long investments in fundamental R&D have driven innovation and progress in mobile communications and other technology fields.
Huawei’s contributions to the 4G/5G standards, such as the near-physical-limit signal transmission technology using polar codes, have established Huawei’s leadership in the mobile communications industry, and “continuously transformed the way people communicate and live,” said Huawei Chief Intellectual Property Officer Alan Fan in a statement.
“This agreement not only demonstrates the value of Huawei’s innovations, but also recognizes Qualcomm’s foundational contributions to modern communication technologies,” Fan said.
It’s one of the latest patent moves on Qualcomm’s part, coming on the heels of a global patent licensing deal with Apple that takes effect next April.
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