On July 9th, China National Intellectual Property Administration released the ranking of patents granted in the first half of 2020, among which Huawei ranked first with 2,772 patents granted. It is worth mentioning that the number of invention patents granted by Huawei in the first half of last year was 23 14, which also ranked first, while the number of patents granted by Huawei last year was also the first. Being able to rank first in this list shows that Huawei has a deep accumulation in technology and innovation.
Not only in China, but also in the world, the number of Huawei patents is amazing. At Huawei P40 conference, Yu Chengdong revealed that Huawei holds more than 85,000 valid patents worldwide, of which invention patents account for more than 90%. In the past 2065,438+09, Huawei ranked first in the European Patent Office with 3,524 patent applications.
Perhaps because of the "fear" of Huawei's patent achievements, the United States has suppressed Huawei more frequently. The Trump administration recently finalized a federal contract ban, prohibiting the US government from purchasing products and services from five China companies, including Huawei. In fact, this kind of operation in the United States has appeared frequently in the past two years, which has long been "normal" to the outside world. However, I am afraid that the United States is still "not very clear" about who this ban has suppressed.
In recent years, Huawei has more and more control over many technology patents, and many enterprises in the United States are actually inseparable from Huawei's patents. In the past two years, Huawei has not waited for the suppression of the United States, but has "argued for it" and countered it at an appropriate time.
As early as 20 19, Huawei had asked Verizon, the largest telecom operator in the United States, to pay license fees for more than 200 Huawei patents it used, which involved network equipment, Internet of Things and many other fields, with a total value of more than 65.438 billion US dollars.
In fact, Verizon itself is not a customer of Huawei, nor has it directly purchased Huawei equipment. However, Verizon has more than 20 network equipment suppliers using many Huawei patents, but Huawei has not received any patent fees before. In March this year, representatives of Huawei and Verizon met in new york to discuss patent fees.
In fact, this behavior of collecting patent fees is a normal phenomenon among enterprises. "User pays" is reasonable, and Huawei has to pay patent fees to American enterprises. For example, Huawei pays hundreds of millions of dollars in patent fees to Qualcomm every year, and also pays patent fees to Ericsson every year according to the actual sales situation.
Only since the United States suppressed Huawei on 20 18, Huawei's every move has received special attention. At this sensitive moment, the practice of charging patent fees to American enterprises can easily be interpreted as a signal to resist sanctions and set off a "patent war."
However, even if we really want to fight patent wars, Huawei is full of confidence.
As early as when Huawei sued Samsung, Ren predicted that "a patent world war will break out in the next five to eight years, and Huawei must have clear strategic judgment and strategic design". In fact, Huawei has always attached great importance to patents: as early as 20 18, Huawei had submitted 5,405 patent applications to WIPO, ranking first among global enterprises.
Moreover, in the past 10 years, Huawei's R&D investment exceeded 485 billion yuan. In 20 18, Huawei's R&D expenditure was10/500 million yuan, accounting for 14 1% of the annual revenue, with a year-on-year increase of 13.2%, surpassing Apple, Microsoft and Intel.
Huawei has invested heavily in patents, with a large number and advanced technology. In the future trend of 5G technology, Huawei participated in the formulation of standards. 2065 438+03-2065 438+08, invested more than 600 million US dollars in the field of 5G R&D, and took the lead in building the commercial capacity of 5G, leaving competitors behind.
Today, Huawei has become a recognized leader in the global 5G industry. Even in the number of orders, it is far ahead, not to mention that Huawei still has many 5G key technologies. Any country in the world that wants to build 5G cannot avoid Huawei's 5G patent.
From this point of view, the United States' series of operations against Huawei in recent years are quite short-sighted. Under the tide of globalization, exchanges and cooperation between enterprises are the right way. It is extremely unwise for the United States to increase unilateral restrictions now. However, judging from Huawei's performance, it is not passively limited, but has enough strength to hold the "throat" of the United States. If the United States continues to blindly adopt similar practices, it will only reap the consequences.