An image of a woman holding a mobile phone in front of a Huawei logo displayed on a computer screen. Canada on Thursday banned China’s Huawei Technologies and her ZTE from using her 5G equipment to protect national security and said it plans to join the rest of the so-called Five Eyes information sharing network. Stated.
Artur Widak | Nafoto | Getty Images
Chinese tech giant Huawei said Friday it will license its 5G technology to rival phone maker Oppo as it seeks to tap into new revenue streams after its smartphone business was crushed by US sanctions. did.
Huawei and Oppo, the world’s fourth largest smartphone maker, have signed a “global patent cross-licensing agreement covering essential patents for cellular standards, including 5G.”
Huawei has a vast portfolio of over 100,000 patents worldwide. The company is one of the top patent holders in 5G technology, the next-generation ultra-fast mobile internet that is seen as key to supporting future industries such as artificial intelligence and self-driving cars.
If a new generation of cellular technology is being developed, so-called global standards should be created. These are the protocols, technical specifications and designs that enable interoperability between his 5G networks around the world and allow smartphones to communicate with these networks.
Industry associations are tasked with creating these, and companies like Huawei contribute to their creation. These companies devise patented technologies. Patents that are critical to standards such as 4G and 5G are considered “standard essential patents” or SEPs.
Huawei has historically been less aggressive in monetizing these patents compared to competitors such as Nokia and Ericsson.
However, in 2019, the United States used a number of measures, including an export blacklist, to cut Huawei off of the critical semiconductors needed for smartphones and other products. has collapsed.
Last year, the Chinese tech giant indicated it would begin selling its technology to other companies via patents.
The company previously said it expects to generate $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion in revenue from intellectual property licensing between 2019 and 2021. Huawei said it met its intellectual property revenue expectations for 2021, but did not provide figures.
5G is at the center of a broader tech war between the US and China. Both countries see it as an important technology. However, the United States has expressed concern that Huawei is a national security threat and has pressured other countries to ban Chinese companies from its 5G infrastructure. Huawei has repeatedly denied being a national security threat.
