Huawei, a major player in the technology industry in China, announced on Friday that it will license its 5G technology to Oppo, a rival handset manufacturer, in an effort to find a new source of revenue in the wake of the sanctions imposed on its smartphone business.
A “global patent cross-licensing agreement, which covers cellular standard essential patents, including 5G” was signed by Huawei and Oppo, the fourth largest smartphone manufacturer in the world. Huawei holds over 100,000 patents worldwide. It holds one of the most important patents for 5G technology, which is the next generation of ultra-fast mobile internet and is thought to be the foundation for industries like autonomous cars and artificial intelligence.
So-called global standards must be established whenever a new generation of cellular technology is developed. These are the protocols, technical specifications, and design that make it possible for smartphones to communicate with 5G networks worldwide.
These will be created by industry bodies, and businesses like Huawei will contribute to their creation. These businesses come up with technologies that they later patent. A “standard essential patent,” or SEP, will be given to the patents that are essential to the standards of, say, 4G or 5G.
When compared to some of its rivals,
such as Nokia and Ericsson, Huawei has not historically been aggressive in monetizing these patents.
Notwithstanding, in 2019, the U.S. utilized various measures including a commodity boycott to remove Huawei from the basic semiconductors it required for its cell phones and a few different items. The company’s smartphone business, which was once the best in the world, was crushed by this.
The tech giant in China made it clear last year that it would begin using patents to sell its technology to other businesses.
The organization recently expressed that it expected to procure income of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion from permitting its protected innovation between 2019 to 2021. Although it did not specify a figure, Huawei stated that it exceeded its expectations for revenue from intellectual property in 2021.
In the larger technology conflict between China and the United States, 5G has emerged as a contentious issue. It is regarded as a crucial technology by both nations. However, the United States of America has pressed other nations to exclude Huawei from their 5G infrastructure due to its concerns that the Chinese company poses a threat to national security. Huawei has consistently denied that it poses a threat to national security.
