WiFi 6 pools gaining significant momentum: HPE signs up to Sisvel Multimode pool, Sharp joins Avanci WiFi 6 Vehicle licensing program as licensor

Context:

• In January, Sisvel launched a WiFi Multimode patent pool offering access to standard essential patents (SEPs) owned by 10 different WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 technology owners (January 22, 2026 Sisvel press release). The program succeeds Sisvel’s WiFi 6 patent pool, which, over a three-year period, closed agreements with nearly 40 companies, including Acer, Netgear, Cisco, and HP (November 18, 2025 ip fray article). The latter deal came after it settled disputes with Sisvel WiFi 6 licensors Huawei, Philips, and Wilus. The Multimode pool chiefly targets consumer electronics companies and includes SEPs owned by Huawei, Panasonic, Philips, ZTE, KPN, Mitsubishi Electric, Orange, Aegis 11 SA (a Sisvel affiliate), SK Telecom, and Wilus.
• In March, Avanci became the second pool administrator to launch a WiFI SEP program, which currently covers WiFi 6 – and plans to later license WiFi 7 standards, too (March 4, 2026 ip fray article). The program launched with 10 patent owners onboard and an inaugural licensee, Mercedes-Benz, making it the only joint licensing program to have publicly announced a major automaker as a licensee.

What’s new:

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), a major WLAN player and a leading manufacturer of both consumer and enterprise routers, has become the latest company to sign up to Sisvel’s Multimode pool. The deal, announced today, was reached amicably with HPE, which is separate from HP (the companies split ways in 2015, with HP continuing to focus on the consumer market and HPE serving industries, providing professional services like data storage, servers, cloud services, and more).
• Sharp has joined the Avanci WiFi 6 Vehicle program, the company announced today (April 8, 2026 LinkedIn post). Sharp’s participation is “another strong signal of momentum” following the program’s launch two months ago, Avanci noted.

Direct impact: The announcements taken together generally indicate strong momentum in the WiFi 6 patent pool space. HPE brings the number of licensees in Sisvel’s Multimode pool up to six (joining Sony Group Corporation, Huawei, Panasonic, Philips, and ZTE). Meanwhile, Sharp brings the number of licensors on Avanci’s new WiFi 6 program up to 11 (it joins Atlas Global, BlackBerry, Canon, ISG, KPN, Malikie Innovations, Meizu Technology, NEC Corporation, NTT, and OPPO).

Wider ramifications: Sharp’s addition to Avanci’s program will undoubtedly attract more automakers. While Sharp is more known for its consumer electronics products, its parent company, Taiwan-based Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry, which signed a $3.5 billion takeover deal with Sharp in 2016), is a major manufacturing partner for companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek (which design the actual WiFi chips), and has recently pushed further and further into the electric vehicle space (Foxconn Smart Open Electric Vehicle Platform). Qualcomm and MediaTek (and their rival Broadcom) are currently pushing WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 wireless modules and components into the automotive market (December 25, 2025 WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 Chipset Market Report), which are necessary for real-time data sharing in autonomous driving. Sharp itself also showcased its own EV concept, known as the LDK+, which treats the car as an “extended living room”, relying entirely on high-speed WiFi and AI to sync the car with home appliances and cloud services (October 24, 2025 Sharp press release). Foxconn’s IP director, Mick Lin, has publicly stated before that the company views patent pools positively and, following some of its subsidiaries, the company itself would be open to licensing its patents through joint licensing programs in the future, too.