Huawei announced plans to license its patent portfolio especially in the area of 5G, where it is looking for a royalty rate of US$2.50 per multi-mode 5G handset.
Huawei currently holds over 100,000 active patents in more than 40,000 patent families worldwide.
Jason Ding, Head of Huawei's Intellectual Property Rights Department, said, "Innovation has been at the core of Huawei's business since the company was founded. Our 2020 white paper lists the number of patent applications Huawei filed, or our R&D and innovation activities, in the late 90s and early 2000s." He also stated, "Huawei's worldwide patent applications were on par with other industry leaders in the early 2000s, and Huawei's success today is a result of its long-term investment in innovation and R&D."
Huawei estimates it will receive about US$1.2 to 1.3 billion from patent licensing between 2019 and 2021.
"Huawei has been the largest technical contributor to 5G standards, and follows fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) principles when it comes to patent licensing," added Ding, "we hope that the royalty rate we announced today will increase 5G adoption by giving 5G implementers a more transparent cost structure that will inform their investment decisions moving forward."
Huawei also launched a new patent mini-site on its website, with patents organized into different portfolios.
Huawei's patent mini-site here: https://patents.huawei.com
