As geopolitical and technological tensions between Washington and Shenzhen remain high, the reality of industrial intellectual property imposes its own rules. Huawei and HP have signed a global reciprocal licensing agreement.
This multi-year deal notably enables HP to access the essential patents (SEP – Standard-Essential Patents) held by Huawei for wireless connectivity standards. In return, the Chinese group gains exploitation rights to a portfolio of patents owned by the American manufacturer.
The agreement brings an end to the 2025 legal proceedings Huawei had initiated against HP, in which the Chinese group accused the American company of exploiting its Wi‑Fi 6 patents without paying royalties.
For HP, the objective was to integrate, without legal risk, the latest Wi‑Fi 6 and Wi‑Fi 7 components into its lineup of laptops and enterprise peripherals.
For Huawei, the realization of this agreement validates its stance as an indispensable contributor to global telecommunications standards.
Tech Hegemony over Wi‑Fi 7
Although kept out of several Western telecommunications infrastructure markets, Huawei remains one of the major holders of essential patents for Wi‑Fi standards. On Wi‑Fi 6 (with OFDMA) as well as Wi‑Fi 7 (multi‑link operation, preamble puncturing), analysts such as GreyB rank the Chinese equipment maker at the top of world patent filings.
Having recently set its FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) royalty schedule for Wi‑Fi 7 at $0.50 per unit on consumer hardware, Huawei laid out a clarified financial framework that encouraged PC manufacturers to bring their practices into compliance.
Unable to freely market certain hardware in the United States, Huawei is turning its past R&D investments (more than 20% of its revenue) into a recurring licensing income stream. It now claims more than 260 licensing agreements signed with major global players, including Ericsson, Nokia, Amazon, Oppo, and Xiaomi.
For the American manufacturer, this agreement guarantees supply continuity and total legal certainty for its professional range. In a PC market shifting toward AI-focused PCs, the seamless integration of Wi‑Fi 7 was to be accomplished without a shadow of infringement litigation, the outcome of which could have led to import restrictions and customs blockages on its laptop shipments.
