Qualcomm's Complicated Relationship with Huawei

While most American companies – and key American allies – refuse to do business with Huawei, a homegrown telecom giant is still working with Shenzhen’s pride and joy. That is, once the courts have their say.

American telecom provider Qualcomm recently settled a legal dispute with Apple, and this could lead to a similar deal with Huawei. The squabble concerned patents and royalties over modems, and according to Reuters, Apple supposedly withheld $5 billion under its previous royalty payment agreement.

The ruling added $30 billion to Qualcomm’s market value, and with Intel exiting the modem chip business, sets up the San Diego-based telecom giant as a key Apple partner. And believe it or not, but this could serve as the template for a similar ruling with Huawei.

You’d think that Qualcomm and Huawei would vie for the same telecom business, but they’ve apparently worked together for years.

According to TechNewsWorld, Qualcomm and Huawei "come from different ends of the wireless ecosystem."

“Due to their different focal points, Qualcomm and Huawei have been working on 5G from different perspectives -- Qualcomm primarily from the mobile device side, and Huawei from the infrastructure side,” claims TechNewsWorld’s Jim McGregor.

The two collaborate on wireless standards – including 5G – and Huawei uses Qualcomm chipsets in certain platforms. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship – in no small part because, as McGregor points out, companies wishing to break into the Chinese market must partner with a local entity.

Read more about this here: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-qualcomm-stocks/qualcomm-settlement-with-apple-paves-way-for-huawei-dispute-analysts-idUSKCN1RT1CS