Editor | Zhao
Qualcomm Huawei shook hands and made peace
On July 29th, local time in the United States, Qualcomm, the world's largest mobile chip provider, announced its third-quarter financial report. At the beginning of this financial report, Qualcomm announced that it had settled a long-standing patent licensing dispute with Huawei and would receive a one-time payment of $654.38+08 billion from Huawei to pay the unpaid patent licensing fee. At the same time, Huawei also reached a multi-year patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm.
After the news, Qualcomm's share price soared 14% in intraday trading, and after-hours trading once exceeded 100 USD, and finally closed at 93.03 USD. According to Qualcomm's forecast, the money to be included in Qualcomm's fourth fiscal quarter can offset the 65,438+05% decline in the mobile phone market caused by the COVID-19 epidemic, which is definitely good news for Qualcomm.
Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, said that after signing the agreement with Huawei, Qualcomm signed multi-year patent licensing agreements with all major mobile phone manufacturers, and "Qualcomm has entered a new stage".
There are only 47 days left before the new US control measures against Huawei take effect. At such a point in time, two rivals and partners who have been entangled for several years finally shake hands and make peace. In this regard, strategic analyst Yang Guang called it a win-win decision.
On the night of the earnings announcement, Qualcomm held a conference call with analysts.
What the outside world is most curious about is how to calculate the one-time payment of $6543.8+$80 million?
Adas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Qualcomm? Pashiwa explained that this $654.38+08 billion came from two payments, one was two short-term agreements reached with Huawei before, and the cost was $654.38+02 billion; The time range of the other sum is 1 until June 2020, and the sum of the two sums is * * *1800 million USD. The money will be paid by Huawei in September 2020.
Besides $6543.8+$800 million, what else does the long-term patent agreement signed between Qualcomm and Huawei include? Does this mean that Qualcomm will provide chips for Huawei's 5G high-end mobile phones?
In this regard, Adas, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer? The answer given by Palhy Valla is that at present, there is no substantial transaction between Qualcomm and Huawei in terms of mobile phone chips. "So look at the performance guidelines of our MSM unit (chip prefix code used internally in Qualcomm). There is really no shipment from Huawei, and these shipments will be OEM for other mobile phones."
According to the new ban imposed by the United States on Huawei in May this year, TSMC said that it has no plans to provide chip manufacturing services to Huawei after 14 September. This means that Huawei's high-end mobile phone chip business will be affected. In this special situation, one of Huawei's countermeasures is to seek a third-party chip supplier, and Qualcomm, the leader of 5G high-end chips, is considered as an alternative.
But this road is full of obstacles. According to Wang Jiwei, after the United States issued an export ban on Huawei in 20 19, all product lines in Qualcomm, including chips such as PCs and mobile phones, stopped supplying Huawei. Although Qualcomm indicated that it would provide products to Huawei as much as possible, Huawei continued to reduce its dependence on Qualcomm chips due to uncertainty. The data shows that the share of Qualcomm chips in Huawei's mobile phones and other devices has dropped from 24% in the past to around 8%.
Figure/vision china
As for the specific content of the agreement reached by Huawei in Qualcomm, Alex Rogers, executive vice president and president of technology licensing business, responded that the transaction with Huawei was confidential, and it was a broad agreement involving some patents granted by Huawei. Qualcomm is very satisfied with this agreement.
Why did you choose to settle at this time?
The feud between Qualcomm and Huawei is no longer a new story, which coincides with the further strengthening of US sanctions against Huawei. Why did the two sides choose to reconcile at this time?
Yang Guang, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, believes that this time point should not be the result of deliberate choice. He analyzed that at the beginning of the 5G industry cycle, the intellectual property portfolios of major companies have been updated, and it is also a normal business practice to renegotiate authorization. "If there is no 5G coming, they may not need to renegotiate. Looking at it now, this time point is still consistent with the industrial cycle. "
Yang Guang also stressed that behind the patent granting of this industry-leading company, not only Qualcomm granted Huawei the patent, but also the cross-licensing of both parties.
Figure/vision china
In Yang Guang's view, the "reconciliation" reached between Qualcomm and Huawei is a real win-win situation.
For Qualcomm, in recent years, the struggle with Apple and Huawei on technology licensing fees has brought great pressure and challenges to Qualcomm's licensing model.
Yang Guang said that the reconciliation with Apple and Huawei is good news for Qualcomm. Previously, in April of 20 19, Qualcomm reached an agreement with Apple to terminate all lawsuits, and reached a global patent licensing agreement and a chip supply agreement.
On the other hand, for Huawei, although Qualcomm may not be the main chip supplier in the short term, it is still of far-reaching significance. Yang Guang explained that this settlement can be seen as a closer link between Huawei's interests and those of American industry. "Can't say there are direct benefits. After all, the problems faced by Huawei are beyond the control of itself and Qualcomm, but they are conducive to the formulation of US policies and the closer ties between the science and technology industries of China and the United States, which may create favorable conditions for higher-level negotiations and make the so-called' decoupling' more difficult. "
The feud between Qualcomm and Huawei
Huawei and Qualcomm were originally two companies without direct competition. Huawei's mobile phone terminal business and network business have been closely cooperating with Qualcomm, and the growth of Huawei's business depends on cooperation with companies such as Qualcomm. Qualcomm receives huge orders from Huawei every year.
However, in recent years, with the layout and development of chips and 5G, they have also entered a subtle relationship of being enemies and friends.
Previously, Qualcomm was the strongest provider of mobile phone chip solutions. But in 20 1 1 year, at the strong insistence of Yu Chengdong, Huawei mobile phones began to support their own chips. With the emergence and iteration of Huawei's Kirin chip, the reputation of Kirin 960, 970 and 980 has been rising, and the market share of Huawei's mobile phone equipped with Huawei's Hisilicon chip has also been expanding, and Huawei has embarked on the road of getting rid of Qualcomm.
Figure/vision china
Although Huawei's Kirin chip is not for sale, the increase of Huawei's mobile phone share has squeezed the market share of Android phones equipped with Qualcomm chips.
2065438+At the beginning of 2008, Qualcomm held Qualcomm China Science and Technology Day in Beijing. At this grand event, executives from several mobile phone manufacturers in China, such as Lenovo, ZTE, OV and Xiaomi, were all present, but Huawei was absent. At that time, two-thirds of Huawei mobile phones shipped were equipped with their own Hisilicon chips.
The smell of gunpowder between the two families is already very strong. Some analysts said that if Huawei had not turned to its own chips, Qualcomm could have benefited from the rapid growth of Huawei's mobile phones in recent years.
At the same time, after Apple refused to pay the patent licensing fee to Qualcomm on 20 17, Huawei followed Apple's footsteps and suspended paying the patent licensing fee to Qualcomm. Huawei and Apple are two leading companies that oppose Qualcomm's patent licensing agreement.
2065438+At the beginning of 2009, Qualcomm was sued by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly damaging the competition of smart phone parts. Huawei and Lenovo appeared in court as witnesses and provided testimony that Qualcomm had threatened to suspend the supply of chips unless the two companies continued to pay technology license fees.
Apart from chips, in Qualcomm, where 4G is dominant, with the advent of the 5G era, Huawei has become the dark horse holding the most 5G patents. With more say in setting standards, the relationship between them looks more antagonistic. In the Lenovo Voting Gate incident, it was Qualcomm who stood on the opposite side of Huawei.
But in fact, Huawei's biggest rival is not Qualcomm. Huawei's direct competitors in the field of telecom equipment are Ericsson and Nokia, which are also based in the field of telecom equipment. Samsung, Apple and a number of domestic mobile phone manufacturers are all on mobile phones.
In terms of 5G, Qualcomm and Huawei have both competition and cooperation. "Their goal is the same, that is, * * * to make the industry bigger and push the standards forward." Yang Guang said. At the end of 2065438+2009, Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, said in an interview that although Huawei and Qualcomm are talking about PK in the field of 5G, the two companies will not be separated, and Huawei and Qualcomm need cooperation to make 5G develop.