Huawei Technologies has signed a multi-year cross-licensing agreement with HP covering patents used in Wi-Fi technology, including the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, in a deal that highlights the Chinese technology company’s growing role as a holder and licensor of essential wireless patents despite years of U.S. restrictions.
Under the agreement, HP will gain access to Huawei’s patents while Huawei will receive access to HP’s intellectual property. The companies did not disclose financial terms or specify the patents Huawei will license from HP.
HP sought to limit the significance of the agreement, describing it as a standard licensing arrangement rather than the beginning of a broader commercial relationship between the two companies.
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“This is a standard-essential patent license covering Wi-Fi technology,” an HP spokesperson said. “It is not new, and does not represent a broader strategic or commercial relationship, partnership, or collaboration with Huawei.”
Standard-essential patents are technologies that manufacturers may need to use to ensure their products comply with an industry standard and remain interoperable with products made by other companies. Licensing such patents is common across the technology industry, including among manufacturers of computers, smartphones, printers and networking equipment.
The agreement nevertheless carries significance for Huawei because it demonstrates the value of its intellectual-property portfolio at a time when the company remains subject to extensive U.S. technology restrictions.
Washington has restricted Huawei’s access to certain U.S.-origin technologies since 2019, when the company was placed on a U.S. trade blacklist that generally requires suppliers to obtain government approval before providing it with certain technologies. Those restrictions have complicated Huawei’s access to advanced semiconductors and critical software. They do not, however, automatically prevent the company from licensing patents to international technology companies.
Huawei has increasingly sought to turn its intellectual property into a source of revenue, expanding its patent portfolio and licensing operations and reaching agreements or settlements with companies including Amazon.
The HP agreement also follows a legal dispute between the two companies.
Huawei sued HP at Europe’s Unified Patent Court in August 2025, alleging that the U.S. company had used one of its Wi-Fi 6 patents without authorization, according to intellectual-property publication IAM.
HP subsequently joined the Sisvel Wi-Fi 6 patent pool in November 2025, resolving legal actions brought against it by Huawei and Philips. The pool provides companies with access through a single licensing agreement to roughly 2,000 patents regarded as essential to Wi-Fi 6 products.
Huawei’s latest agreement with HP goes beyond that arrangement, covering a wider group of Huawei Wi-Fi patents, including technology associated with Wi-Fi 7.
The development is important to Huawei’s licensing strategy because Wi-Fi standards are embedded in a vast range of connected consumer and business products. A successful licensing business allows Huawei to monetize technology developed in areas where it may no longer be able to compete as freely as it once did in global hardware markets.
Huawei has previously said it is one of the leading holders of patents essential to implementing Wi-Fi 6. The company has set a licensing fee of 50 cents for each consumer device using its Wi-Fi 6 technology. Huawei said more than 1.6 billion consumer electronic devices, excluding mobile phones, had used its Wi-Fi-related inventions by the end of 2025.
That installed base gives Huawei a potentially significant source of recurring intellectual-property revenue as manufacturers continue adopting newer wireless standards.
The move also reveals an important distinction in the U.S.-China technology conflict. Washington’s restrictions have targeted Huawei’s access to strategic technologies such as advanced chips and software, but they have not eliminated Huawei’s ability to earn revenue from patents that form part of international technology standards. That makes intellectual property one of the areas where Huawei can continue participating in the global technology ecosystem even as geopolitical restrictions constrain other parts of its business.
Meanwhile, the agreement provides HP access to Huawei’s relevant patents and reduces the risk of further disputes over the use of standardized Wi-Fi technology in its products.
The deal, however, is relevant for the PC industry as wireless connectivity becomes important to computers and other connected devices. Wi-Fi 7 offers improvements in throughput, latency, and reliability over previous generations, increasing the importance of access to patents covering technologies incorporated into the standard.
HP remains one of the world’s largest PC manufacturers. Gartner data puts the Palo Alto, California-based company at a 21.3% global PC market share, behind Lenovo. The agreement therefore links two major technology companies through intellectual property even as broader U.S.-China technology relations remain constrained by trade and national-security restrictions.
The agreement does not indicate a broader strategic partnership between the companies, as HP made clear. But it does bolster Huawei’s position as a significant owner of technology essential to global wireless standards.