Huawei and Qualcomm have signed a multi-year patent licensing agreement spanning 5G, AI, computing and networking, creating a new intellectual property link between two major players in the global semiconductor and communications markets.
The agreement gives each company access to patents held by the other and includes Qualcomm’s purchase of selected Huawei U.S. patents. Those acquired patents cover areas including AI, compute and networking. Financial terms were not disclosed, and the transaction requires regulatory approval before closing.
For Qualcomm, whose business combines semiconductor sales with a major technology licensing operation, the agreement secures access to Huawei IP across several technologies that are shaping next-gen chips and communications systems. Huawei gains another source of revenue from a patent portfolio built through years of heavy R&D spending.
For the chip industry, the deal demonstrates how IP can connect companies even when trade restrictions limit conventional supplier relationships. Huawei and Qualcomm remain subject to a difficult U.S.-China technology environment, yet both own patents that have global value across 5G, AI, networking and compute.
A Lengthy Relationship
The agreement marks the first time the companies have established a patent licensing arrangement covering 5G. But their financial relationship dates back decades. Huawei made a licensing payment to Qualcomm as early as 2001, and the companies resolved a patent dispute in 2020 that resulted in Huawei agreeing to pay Qualcomm $1.8 billion in past licensing fees.
The new deal comes after U.S. export restrictions imposed in 2019 sharply limited Huawei’s ability to obtain advanced semiconductors and key software from American suppliers. Those restrictions made Huawei’s internal technology development and IP more important to its business.
Huawei invested 192.3 billion yuan, or about $28.7 billion, in R&D during 2025. That represented nearly 22% of annual revenue. By the end of that year, the company held approximately 165,000 active granted patents worldwide.
The company has turned that portfolio into a sizable licensing operation. Once the Qualcomm agreement is included, Huawei said the total contract value of its patent licensing agreements since 2011 will exceed $6.9 billion. Its licensing business has been profitable since 2021.
Huawei has signed more than 260 licensing agreements with tech companies. Its IP reaches well beyond cellular communications into technologies such as Wi-Fi. In June, the company set a royalty of 50 cents per unit for its Wi-Fi 7 technology. Huawei said its patent agreements covered 1.6 billion devices globally by the end of 2025.
The agreement with Qualcomm is significant for AI because both companies hold large bodies of IP related to the technologies underpinning semiconductor-based communications. Additionally, not only is Qualcomm a major supplier of mobile processors and wireless chips, its licensing operation generates revenue from foundational cellular technologies used across the industry.
The structure of the agreement is based on a standard known as FRAND, or fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing principles. These principles play an important role in semiconductor and communications markets because standardized technologies must be available to multiple manufacturers.
