Qualcomm will license Huawei's patents, a reversal 25 years in the making

Cross licenses: each company licenses the other's patents across a range of fields, including 5G, compute, AI and networking, according to the announcement made in Shenzhen.

A patent purchase: Qualcomm will also buy certain Huawei US patents in compute, AI, networking and "other technologies." That part closes once the necessary regulatory approvals arrive.

The principles: the companies said the agreement reflects their shared commitment to intellectual property rights and to licensing on "fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory" (FRAND) terms.

What's missing: neither company disclosed the number of patents or any dollar value, Tom's Hardware reports.

Qualcomm's statement pointed to its "recognition of Huawei's continued innovation and intellectual property in 5G and other technology fields."

That's the headline. Qualcomm will pay Huawei for patent rights under the deal, reportedly for the first time, Tom's Hardware reports.

Each company credits the other's portfolio in the announcement, which suggests both are formally recognizing each other's patents, according to Tom's Hardware.

Tom's Hardware framed it as a turnaround for Huawei, which once fought Qualcomm's licensing terms and stopped paying it. With this deal, Huawei "can now take some satisfaction in leveling the playing field with Qualcomm," the publication wrote.

The timing stands out too. Huawei unveiled LogicFolding just months ago, Bloomberg notes, and its first mass-produced LogicFolding chip debuted in September, according to Caixin.

Bloomberg reports the deal includes something more pointed: Qualcomm agreed to license patents underpinning Huawei's LogicFolding chipmaking technique.

A Huawei spokesperson told Bloomberg the multiyear cross-license spans technologies related to 5G devices, AI services, near- and co-packaged optics, and networks. Bloomberg called it a win for Huawei and its push into overseas AI markets, and said the agreement helps validate Huawei's chipmaking capabilities.

What LogicFolding is: Huawei unveiled it in May at an IEEE circuits conference in Shanghai, SiliconANGLE reported. It physically folds and stacks logic circuits on a dual-layer structure, shortening internal wiring to cut signal delay.

The pitch: Huawei pairs it with what it calls the "Tau Scaling Law," which focuses on how fast data moves through a chip rather than how small transistors are. Huawei is targeting 1.4-nanometer-class performance by 2031, SiliconANGLE reported.

Why it matters for China: the approach is meant to make up for China's lack of access to ASML's extreme ultraviolet lithography machines, the gold standard for making cutting-edge chips, Bloomberg notes.

Already shipping: Huawei said it spent more than six years refining the design and built 381 test chips, according to SiliconANGLE. It unveiled its first mass-produced LogicFolding chip, the Kirin 9050 Pro, on September 7 in a new tri-fold phone, Caixin reported.

LogicFolding isn't just about phones.

The claimed gains: Huawei says the folded design delivers a 55% increase in transistor density and a 41% boost in power efficiency, Tom's Hardware reported when it was unveiled. Those are Huawei's own figures.

AI chips next: the company aims to bring the architecture to its Ascend AI processors and large data center clusters by 2030, as local alternatives to restricted Nvidia hardware, according to Tom's Hardware.

The benchmark: TSMC hopes to mass-produce 1.4nm chips by 2028, SiliconANGLE noted. Huawei's target for equivalent density is 2031.

The skeptics: Omdia analyst Lian Jye Su told the Wall Street Journal it remains to be seen whether Huawei can pull it off. "But it's an alternative path forward, and a breakthrough Huawei managed to find while facing supply chain challenges," he said, as quoted by SiliconANGLE.

Huawei is one of a handful of companies seen as key to China's ambitions to lead in AI and reduce reliance on foreign technology, including Nvidia's accelerators, Bloomberg reports. Hamstrung by US export curbs, Huawei and its partners are exploring ways to design and make the chips that data centers and AI development need.

That's the backdrop for Qualcomm's decision to license patents behind LogicFolding. Bloomberg describes Huawei's approach as focused on improving data transmission speeds to make up for missing lithography tools, and sees the agreement as validation of Huawei's chipmaking capabilities.

The two companies go back a long way.

2001: Huawei, then a Chinese telecom equipment supplier, took a royalty-bearing Qualcomm license to build CDMA network equipment, Tom's Hardware reports.

2018: Huawei halted royalty payments to Qualcomm. Its general counsel later testified about Qualcomm's licensing terms in the US Federal Trade Commission's 2019 antitrust trial against the chipmaker.

2020: the companies settled a back-royalty dispute.

2024: the US revoked Qualcomm's license to sell some hardware to Huawei. Qualcomm had once supplied chips for some Huawei phones.

2025: Huawei's license expired, and Qualcomm stopped counting royalties from Huawei in its revenue in early 2025.

Before the US tightened restrictions during President Donald Trump's first term, Huawei sourced some smartphone chips from Qualcomm, Bloomberg notes. Since then, it has increasingly turned to chips designed and made in China.

The deal is about patents only. Huawei said it involves no other business cooperation, according to the South China Morning Post, as cited by Tom's Hardware. That implies no chip sales.

Huawei has long been one of the world's most prolific patent developers, especially in wireless networking, and has stepped up efforts to earn money from its patents, Bloomberg reports.

The numbers: Huawei says the total value of its patent licensing contracts will top $6.9 billion with the Qualcomm deal, counting from its first licensing income from Motorola in 2011, Tom's Hardware reports. Since 2021, Huawei says, its licensing income has exceeded what it pays for other companies' patents.

Recent deals: in August, Huawei signed a multi-year Wi-Fi patent cross-license with HP. As of 2025, it held 165,000 active granted patents worldwide.

In court: Huawei has also sued to enforce its patents, including a 2024 lawsuit against MediaTek, Tom's Hardware notes.

Regulators: the deal is subject to US Federal Trade Commission review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, which applies to deals valued at more than $133.9 million, Bloomberg reports. No timetable has been given for closing the patent purchase.

Earnings: Qualcomm's fiscal year ended before the announcement, so the deal won't appear in its fourth-quarter results expected next month, Tom's Hardware notes. Qualcomm also renewed its Apple license last month, effective April 1, 2027.

• If you buy phones: nothing changes right away. This is a patent deal, not a chip supply deal.
• If you follow chips: a major US chip designer is licensing technology from a company under US export curbs, a notable shift in who leads in some areas.
• If you follow US-China tech: Huawei's patent income keeps growing while the US limits what it can buy.