The Huawei Verizon Fallout
Huawei has demanded 1 billion dollars from Verizon as licensing fee for over 230 of its patents. The patents relate to a range of technologies such as wireline infrastructure, network equipment and hardware, communications technology and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Huawei, one of the leading companies in telecommunication equipment and consumer electronics, was founded in 1987 and engages 188000 employees at present across the globe with more than 75000 of them in R&D alone. In the 2017 fiscal year it invested US$13.8 billion in R&D and has generated a revenue of US$108.5 billion in 2018 which is 21% more than the previous year. The company is present in 170 countries and its global expansion has triggered cybersecurity concerns regarding its products in various parts of the world.
Huawei is meeting with more resistance in the western democracies now that 5G is an immediate prospect. However, it has already established itself in this space, capitalizing on the level playground guaranteed in the west.
A quick analysis on the Relecura platform tells us that Huawei is ahead of the rest of the competitors in the 5G space and is constantly innovating as well. It is interesting to note that while Huawei has 118378 active patents and applications, Verizon has only 7533.
Figure 1: Table depicting the IP share of the key players [Click on image to enlarge]
Figure 2: Publication Trend [Click on image to enlarge]
