Huawei, Qualcomm strike multi-year patent agreement across 5G, AI

Qualcomm and Huawei have entered into a multi-year, extensive patent licensing agreement that spans 5G, computing, and artificial intelligence technologies. Huawei, the Shenzhen-based tech giant, will pay Qualcomm to acquire specific patents in compute, AI, networking, and other areas. The agreement does not involve any additional business cooperation and requires regulatory approvals.

The deal follows a 2020 settlement where Huawei paid Qualcomm $1.8 billion in back licensing fees. Huawei's Chief Intellectual Property Officer, Alan Fan, highlighted the value of Huawei's innovations and Qualcomm's foundational contributions to modern communication technologies. Qualcomm's Executive Vice President and General Manager of Technology Licensing, John Han, emphasized that the agreement reaffirms Qualcomm's 5G leadership and recognizes Huawei's ongoing innovation in the field.

This latest patent licensing agreement brings Huawei's total contract value from such deals to over $6.9 billion since the company's first income from Motorola in 2011. Huawei has established its intellectual property influence through over 260 licensing deals with major global tech firms such as Nokia, Samsung, and Amazon, along with domestic smartphone rivals like Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi.

In 2025, Huawei invested 192.3 billion yuan (approximately $28.7 billion) into research and development, accounting for nearly 22% of its total revenue. As one of the world's largest patent holders, Huawei holds 165,000 active granted patents around the globe. In 2022, Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei, encouraged the company's intellectual property team to convert its vast patent portfolio into revenue through reasonable pricing and to generate appropriate returns on its investments.