Huawei Photo: CFP

Huawei announced on Wednesday that it has reached a license agreement with a supplier of Volkswagen Group, marking the largest licensing deal in the car industry for Huawei.

The agreement includes a license under Huawei's 4G standard essential patents that covers the German vehicles with wireless connectivity.

As an innovative company, Huawei owns a leading patent portfolio for wireless technologies which offers a great value to the car industry, the company's Chief Legal Officer, Song Liuping, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Song welcomed the agreement, saying they are pleased that key players from the car industry recognize the value and trust that, with their advanced technology in place, the license will benefit global consumers.

Huawei expects more than 30 million vehicles to be licensed under its patents based on existing license agreements, the statement said.

Huawei will continue to bring digital connectivity to more vehicles globally to establish a fully connected and intelligent world, the company announced.

Over the past 20 years, Huawei has entered into more than 100 patent license agreements with major global companies worldwide including those in the US and Europe.

Ren Zhengfei, founder of Huawei, once said in an open remark in June 2019 that they were too busy and developing too fast to collect patent fees. However, they may start collecting some of them when times are not that busy, according to media reports.

Xiang Ligang, Director General of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Wednesday that it is within expectation for Huawei to reach licensing agreements with global carmakers since communication, especially intelligent communication, is an important part of modern vehicles and Huawei has market advantages in this field.

Huawei ranked second in the number of patents granted in Europe and 10th in the US in 2019. The company also has accumulated the most licensed patents in China, as open data shows.

Given the leading position in licensing, the company expects its intellectual property revenue to be between $1.2 and $1.3 billion between 2019 and 2021.