Huawei and Qualcomm sign landmark patent license agreement covering 5G, AI, and computing

Chinese tech heavyweight Huawei and US chip giant Qualcomm announced a multi-year, broad patent license agreement on Monday, that includes cross licenses to the companies' patent portfolios across a range of technology fields — including 5G, computing, AI, and networking — together with Qualcomm's purchase of certain Huawei US patents in the areas of computing, AI, networking, and other technologies.

The agreement marks the first patent licensing deal between the two companies to cover 5G technology, and the first revenue-positive agreement Huawei has signed with Qualcomm.

It underscores Huawei's leadership in the 5G standard essential patent field while demonstrating its innovation strength in frontier areas, including computing, AI, and networking.

The transaction will close following receipt of necessary regulatory approvals. The agreement reflects the companies' shared commitment to intellectual property rights and to licensing practices consistent with fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory principles.

"Huawei's decades of sustained investment in fundamental R&D have driven innovation and progress in mobile communications and other fields of technology," Alan Fan, Huawei's chief intellectual property officer, said. "Huawei's broad 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."

"This agreement not only demonstrates the value of Huawei's innovations, but also recognizes Qualcomm's foundational contributions to modern communication technologies," he added.

"Qualcomm has invested in foundational wireless technologies that have enabled successive generations of mobile innovation and earned broad recognition across the global wireless industry," John Han, executive vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Technology Licensing, said. "This agreement reaffirms industry recognition of Qualcomm's 5G technology leadership and the success of Qualcomm's 5G SEP licensing program."

"This agreement likewise reflects Qualcomm's recognition of Huawei's continued innovation and intellectual property in 5G and other technology fields," Han added..

The deal follows Huawei's August announcement of a patent licensing agreement with the US tech company HP Inc, and comes as Huawei continues to expand its IP licensing program. Huawei said its IP licensing business has generated positive revenue since 2021, reflecting years of sustained R&D investment.

Huawei has maintained a balanced approach to intellectual property, building a positive cycle of "investment-return-reinvestment". From 2007 through the end of 2025, the company's cumulative R&D investment exceeded 1.8 trillion yuan. As of the end of 2025, Huawei held over 165,000 active granted patents globally, more than 90 percent of which are invention patents.

The company has now signed over 270 patent license agreements with major ICT manufacturers in the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, and other key markets. Once the transaction is completed, the total value of Huawei's patent licensing agreements is expected to exceed $6.9 billion, the company said.