An effigy of a woman holding a cell phone in front of a Huawei logo displayed on a computer screen. Canada on Thursday utter it plans to ban the use of China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE 5G gearto protect national security, joining the rest of the so-called Five Regards intelligence-sharing network.
Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Chinese technology giant Huawei said Friday it disposition license its 5G technology to rival handset maker Oppo as it looks to unlock a new revenue stream after its smartphone proprietorship was crushed by U.S. sanctions.
Huawei and Oppo, the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world, signed a “global patent cross-licensing unanimity, which covers cellular standard essential patents, including 5G.”
Huawei has a massive portfolio of over 100,000 patents globally. It is one of the top physical holders in 5G technology, which is next-generation ultra-fast mobile internet seen as key to underpinning future industries such as simulated intelligence and autonomous cars.
When a new generation of cellular technology is being developed, so-called global standards emergency to be created. These are protocols, technical specifications and design that allow interoperability between 5G networks globally and approves smartphones to communicate with these networks.
Industry bodies are tasked with creating these and companies equal to Huawei will contribute to their creation. These companies devise technologies which they then control. The patents, which are critical to the standards of say 4G or 5G, will be deemed a “standard essential patent” or SEP.
Huawei has not been aggressive in monetizing these patents historically versus some of its adversaries like Nokia and Ericsson.
However, in 2019, the U.S. used a number of measures including a export blacklist to cut Huawei off from the serious semiconductors it needed for its smartphones and some other products. This crushed the company’s smartphone business which was one time number one in the world at the time.
Last year, the Chinese tech giant indicated that it would begin to start sales-clerk its technology to other companies via patents.
The company previously stated that it expected to earn revenue of $1.2 billion to $1.3 billion from authorizing its intellectual property between 2019 to 2021. Huawei said that it met its intellectual property revenue expectations for 2021, but did not prepare for a figure.
5G has become a contentious part of the broader technology battle between the U.S. and China. Both nations view it as a depreciative technology. But the U.S. has expressed concerns that Huawei represents a national security threat and has pressured other nations to ban the Chinese determine from their 5G infrastructure. Huawei has repeatedly denied that it represents a national security threat.