Wireless Patent Deal Adds To Qualcomm's China Exposure

Qualcomm reached a new patent license agreement with Lenovo Group.

So far, China's five leading smartphone manufacturers, including Xiaomi, Huawei, TCL, ZTE, and Lenovo, have signed new patent license agreements with Qualcomm.

Neither Qualcomm nor Lenovo released any financial details about the agreement. However, they said Lenovo will pay patent fees to Qualcomm for their 3G and 4G cellular technologies sold in China, which is in line with the anti-monopoly provisions agreed by Qualcomm in China in 2015.

Qualcomm said the company has signed over 80 new patent license agreement in China. As the world's leading smartphone processor and modem chip manufacturer, about half of Qualcomm's profits were from cellular technology patent licensing.

In February 2015, Qualcomm started a new round of patent license negotiations with Chinese smartphone makers after the anti-monopoly investigation in China. As the results of the anti-monopoly investigation were released, Qualcomm agreed to pay a penalty of USD975 million and changed some terms and conditions in its license agreement that influenced sales in China. Based on those terms and conditions, Qualcomm spent longer time in closing the agreements, which caused the company to lower its quarterly financial expectations in November 2015.

Source: Wireless Patent Deal Adds To Qualcomm's China Exposure