BEIJING, Aug 25, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Chinese telecoms giant Huawei said Friday 
it had renewed a licensing agreement with Ericsson to use each other's 
technologies, in a rebuff to US warnings about the risk of espionage by 
Beijing.

Huawei has been at the centre of an intense technological rivalry between 
China and the United States, which suspects the company of spying for Beijing 
-- accusations Huawei denies.

US sanctions on Huawei since 2019 have cut off the firm from global supply 
chains for American components and hobbled its smartphone arm, forcing it to 
pivot towards other forms of growth.

Washington has also pressured its allies to ban the use of Huawei gear in 
their 5G telecoms networks, arguing that Beijing could use the equipment to 
spy on other countries' communications and data traffic.

Despite those tensions, Huawei and Ericsson -- based in Stockholm -- have 
signed a "long-term" global agreement to licence each other's patents, the 
Chinese company said in a statement Friday.

The deal covers patents essential to 3G, 4G and 5G cellular technologies as 
well as both companies' "respective sales of network infrastructure and 
consumer devices", Huawei said.

The company's intellectual property chief, Alan Fan, said the agreement 
"demonstrates the commitment both parties have forged that intellectual 
property should be properly respected and protected".

"Our commitment to sharing leading technological innovations will drive 
healthy, sustainable industry development and provide consumers with more 
robust products and services," he said.

The previous such agreement between Huawei and Ericsson was signed in 2016.

Back then, Huawei was an insurgent force in the global technology sector with 
an eye on dethroning Apple and Samsung as the world's top seller of 
smartphones.

It briefly grabbed that title in 2020 but US sanctions have since clipped its 
wings and forced Huawei into a strategic refocus on software, connected 
devices, business computing, smart vehicles and other sectors.

Despite being sidelined from American technologies, Huawei could begin 
producing its own chips for 5G phones this year, according to media reports 
about which the company has refused to comment.