In the current feverish economic context, Huawei is trying to diversify its sources of revenue. The Chinese giant has notably signed several license agreements with companies like Nokia, BMW and Audi to monetize its patents.
Huawei generates new revenue with patents
In just a few years, the United States has done everything to stifle Huawei and cripple its smartphone business. However, the Chinese giant don’t give up and try to survive by diversifying its sources of income. On December 23, 2022, Huawei said it had ” extended patent licensing agreement with Finnish rival Nokia without revealing the terms of the agreement. The two companies had already signed a licensing agreement in 2017. Even chosen with Oppo a few days earlier.
Huawei said this year it has signed more than 20 new patent licensing agreements or extended agreements with companies in industries such as smartphones, automotive and telecommunications. Alan Fan, head of intellectual property at Huawei, explains that “ we are delighted to see that our technologies are helping the automotive industry and other sectors in their digitalization “. This is an important new source of income for the Chinese giant.
Recall that Huawei is the largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment in the world and that the company was until a few years ago the largest seller of smartphones in China. Since the trump era and the sanctions that accompanied the passage of the former American president, Huawei diversified its activities. The company had revenue of $100 billion in 2021, a decrease of 29% compared to the previous year. It must be said that smartphone sales have fallen by 50%.
The Chinese tech giant has made automobiles its favorite industry. Indeed, the Shenzhen-based company has entered into agreements with 15 car manufacturers worldwide, including Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Some 15 million connected cars worldwide will benefit from Huawei’s patents this year, up from 8 million in 2021. The patents that Huawei has licensed to automakers mainly relate to communication technologies such as 4G.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei asked the company’s intellectual property team to step up efforts to “ turn patent pool into revenue “. Last year, Huawei has filed a record 6,952 patent applicationsan increase of 27% over the previous year.