Huawei signs ‘largest auto industry licensing deal’

Huawei has signed a licensing agreement with a Volkswagen supplier for the use of 4G patents. The company reports this on its website. According to Huawei, this is the largest licensing agreement in the automotive industry.

The license agreement includes 4G standard essential patents and applies to Volkswagen vehicles equipped with wireless connectivity. Presumably this refers to 4G technology.

According to Huawei, this license agreement is the largest in the global automotive industry. “We are pleased that key players in the automotive industry recognize the value of our leading patent portfolio. This agreement will only benefit global consumers,” said Song Liuping, the company’s chief legal officer.

In 2019, then-US President Donald Trump placed Huawei on the entity list. That is a list of individuals and companies with which US companies, and companies that use US technology, are prohibited from trading. The Trump administration saw Huawei as a threat to the national security of the United States. Trump then also banned the use of Huawei equipment to build critical infrastructures of 5G networks and urged other countries to do the same.

Due to Trump’s trade ban, Huawei was no longer allowed to provide Google services on its Android smartphones. That is why the company would like to focus on software applications, among other things. At least that is apparent from a recently leaked internal memo that the Reuters news agency was able to view.