In defiance of US warnings about the possibility of espionage by Beijing, Chinese telecom giant Huawei announced on Friday that it had renewed a licensing arrangement with Ericsson to utilize each other’s technologies.
The United States and China have been engaged in fierce technological competition. The US suspects Huawei of spying for China; Huawei refutes this claim.
Since 2019, US sanctions have barred Huawei from international supply chains for American components and crippled its smartphone division, forcing the company to shift its focus to other areas of growth.
Washington has also pushed its allies to forbid Huawei equipment from being used in their 5G telecom networks, claiming Beijing may use the hardware to snoop on conversations and data traffic between other nations.
Despite these conflicts, Huawei and Stockholm-based Ericsson have struck a “long-term” global deal to license each other’s patents, according to a statement released by the Chinese business on Friday.
The agreement covers both businesses’ “respective sales of network infrastructure and consumer devices” as well as key patents for 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular technology, according to Huawei.
The deal “demonstrates the commitment both parties have forged that intellectual property should be properly respected and protected,” according to the company’s head of intellectual property, Alan Fan.
He claimed that by sharing cutting-edge technical advancements, the sector would grow healthily and sustainably and that consumers would receive better goods and services.
Earlier, in 2016, Huawei and Ericsson struck a similar contract.
Huawei was a disruptive power in the global technology industry at the time, looking to unseat Apple and Samsung as the top smartphone sellers worldwide.
It briefly held the position in 2020, but US sanctions later restrained it, forcing Huawei to shift its strategic emphasis to other industries such as software, linked devices, business computers, smart cars, and others.
According to media sources on which the company has declined to comment, Huawei may start manufacturing its own semiconductors for 5G phones this year despite being excluded from American technologies.
