Huawei, HP sign multiyear global patent cross-licensing agreement

The agreement covers certain Huawei Wi-Fi patents and reciprocal rights, highlighting both companies’ technology and intellectual property positions while supporting broader access to innovations underpinning widely adopted wireless connectivity standards.

Huawei and HP Inc. have entered into a multiyear global patent cross-licensing agreement covering certain technologies developed by the two companies. As part of the arrangement, HP has secured a licence to use specified Huawei Wi-Fi patents.

The agreement marks a new development in the companies’ intellectual property cooperation and recognises Huawei’s portfolio of technology patents as well as HP’s position in the global computing and peripheral equipment market. The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.

Alan Fan, Huawei's Chief Intellectual Property Officer, stated, "Huawei is pleased to reach this patent cross-licensing agreement with HP Inc. This agreement is a strong testament to Huawei's persistent independent innovation in cutting-edge fields in Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Through patent licensing, Huawei shares its innovation with the industry, particularly in the area of standardized technologies, which brings leading technological experiences to consumers worldwide."

Agreement covers Wi-Fi technology

The deal includes Huawei patents associated with Wi-Fi technologies, an area that has become fundamental to wireless connectivity across consumer, enterprise and public environments. Wi-Fi networks are now widely used in homes, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, workplaces and public spaces.

The development of successive Wi-Fi generations is based on contributions from technology companies across the industry. Once standards are established, the resulting technologies can be implemented by manufacturers and other industry participants, supporting interoperability across a broad range of connected devices.

Steven Geiszler, who represented Huawei in the negotiations, stated: "This is another successful licensing of Huawei patents, particularly in the area of standardized Wi-Fi technologies—while obtaining valuable reciprocal patent rights from HP Inc. I appreciate the professionalism and courteousness shown by HP's negotiation team during this project."

Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 continue to be deployed despite the arrival of newer standards, particularly for applications where their available throughput remains sufficient. Later generations have focused on improving network capacity, speed, latency and power efficiency.

Wi-Fi evolution supports broader connectivity

Wi-Fi 6 introduced improvements designed to handle greater numbers of connected devices and more demanding applications. Its capabilities support use cases such as high-definition video streaming, gaming and augmented or virtual reality, while allowing conventional broadband equipment and Internet of Things devices to operate through the same wireless infrastructure.

The subsequent Wi-Fi 7 standard builds further on these capabilities, targeting higher data throughput, reduced latency and more dependable wireless performance. These improvements are intended to support demanding applications including 8K video, gaming, AR/VR, remote working, video conferencing and cloud-based services.

The expansion of Wi-Fi technology has made wireless connectivity an important part of digital infrastructure, supporting applications ranging from remote healthcare and digital education to connected homes and workplaces.

Huawei has contributed to the development of Wi-Fi technologies across multiple generations and has made technologies arising from its research available through licensing. The company said such licensing enables its innovations to be adopted more broadly across the industry.

The cross-licensing agreement with HP adds to Huawei’s broader approach of sharing patented technologies through commercial licensing while obtaining access to complementary intellectual property from other technology companies.