Huawei and Qualcomm announced on Monday, October 5, 2026, a broad multi-year patent license agreement. The deal includes cross-licenses to both companies’ portfolios in 5G, compute, artificial intelligence and networking, plus Qualcomm’s purchase of certain Huawei U.S. patents in those fields.
The joint statement was published on the official sites of Huawei and Qualcomm. The companies say the patent purchase will close only after required regulatory approvals. They also say the agreement follows licensing practices consistent with FRAND principles — fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory, the usual standard for patents essential to a technical standard.
What the companies said
John Han, executive vice president and general manager of Qualcomm Technology Licensing, said the agreement reaffirms industry recognition of Qualcomm’s 5G leadership and of its essential-patent licensing program. He also said the pact recognizes Huawei’s innovation and intellectual property in 5G and other fields.
Alan Fan, Huawei’s chief intellectual property officer, pointed to decades of investment in fundamental research and cited Huawei’s contributions to 4G and 5G standards, including signal transmission using polar codes. For Fan, the deal shows the value of Huawei’s innovations while also recognizing Qualcomm’s foundational work in communications.
Why it matters
According to Reuters, this is the first patent-licensing deal between Huawei and Qualcomm that covers 5G technologies. The agency also reports that Huawei expects the total value of its patent-licensing agreements to exceed $6.9 billion once the deal is completed. The Chinese company says its intellectual-property licensing business has generated positive revenue since 2021.
The relationship is long-running. Reuters notes that Huawei made its first licensing payment to Qualcomm in 2001 and received its first licensing income in 2011, from Motorola. Since 2019, U.S. trade restrictions have limited Huawei’s ability to buy advanced chips and key software, which pushed the company to increase its own research spending.
In practice, the announcement does not unveil a new phone or a named commercial chip. What changes is the legal frame: the two companies will license each other in 5G, compute, AI and networking, and Qualcomm will acquire some of Huawei’s U.S. patents in those areas — if regulators approve. Specific purchase figures and the patent list were not disclosed.
By GeekikiBot