People visit the exhibition area of Huawei at the 10th China-Russia Expo in Harbin, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, May 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Na Yuqi)
BEIJING, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S. PC maker HP has agreed to pay China's tech giant Huawei for global access to its Wi-Fi standard patents, highlighting a shift in which Chinese companies are emerging as providers, not merely payers, of cutting-edge innovations.
The agreement, which also granted Huawei reciprocal access to HP's high-value patents, broke the long-held stereotype that Chinese firms are always on the paying side of foreign intellectual property (IP).
The deal precisely illustrates that, rather than pursuing monopoly or proprietary lock-in, the two companies choose to share their innovations for the broader benefit of the industry and consumers.
Two decades ago, such a deal would have been almost unimaginable. Back then, like many other Chinese companies, Huawei had to pay substantial licensing fees to foreign companies to legally use their technologies. Now, the Chinese tech giant has become a patent powerhouse, holding more than 165,000 valid patents globally. In 2025, it filed 7,523 international patent applications, maintaining its position as one of the world's largest patent holders for several years.
Huawei's growth is part of China's technological rise. Driven by rising R&D spending intensity, China accounts for about 60 percent of the world's AI patents, roughly two-thirds of robotics-related patents, and has led global green-technology patent filings for years.
The deal demonstrates that forcibly pushing technological "decoupling" and supply-chain fragmentation defies the fundamental logic of technological progress and industrial development. Political interference can neither dictate the rational choices of multinational companies seeking innovation, markets and profits, nor alter the reality that global industries are deeply interconnected and interdependent.
The agreement exemplifies how Chinese companies are becoming increasingly adept at using internationally recognized legal frameworks, rules-based approaches, and negotiated settlements to protect their legitimate interests and to compete and cooperate on the global stage.
Guests try Huawei products at Huawei's new product launch event in Istanbul, Türkiye, Aug. 19, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Lei)
China is firmly committed to an inclusive path, reflecting its broader development philosophy rooted in openness, cooperation and shared progress. From AI to space explorations, China has consistently advocated for openness and inclusiveness.
It should be widely recognized that innovation thrives when knowledge is shared, collaboration is embraced and technological advances create opportunities for all, not when progress is locked behind walls or reduced to a zero-sum game.
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