Context: In July, Access Advance welcomed Simon Zhao, formerly Head of China Licensing at Nokia and Director of IP Licensing and Business Development at Qualcomm Technology Licensing, as its new Vice President of the China Market (July LinkedIn post by Access Advance). He will support the company in its expansion in China, Access Advance noted at the time.
What’s new: Access Advance has hired Matt Chen (Jyh-Kwang Chen), previously Principal IP Counsel at Tencent and Senior Legal Counsel at TSMC, as Vice President, Asia Market Licensing, the company has announced today (October 5, 2026 LinkedIn post by Access Advance).
Direct impact: The two hires underline the strengthening of Access Advance’s Asia presence. On LinkedIn, Mr. Chen noted that Asia is home to “remarkable” technological talent and a wide range of business models (October 5, 2026 LinkedIn post by Matt Chen). Working across these markets, he continued, requires listening carefully, understanding local priorities, and building trust over time. “I look forward to bringing my experience and relationships to that effort, and to helping companies navigate video technology licensing with greater clarity,” he said.
Wider ramifications: This year, the company has seen several major licensees and licensors join its programs, including Alibaba and Dahua to its VDP and HEVC pools (July 2, 2026 ip fray article), and OPPO to its VVC pool (January 9, 2026 ip fray article). They join several other Chinese companies: Huawei, Xiaomi, ByteDance, Tencent, Hikvision, and ZTE. Last month, Access Advance CEO Pete Moller also spoke at the China Intellectual Property Annual Conference (CIPAC) about how his company’s approach (“based on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory (FRAND) terms”) aligns with China’s IP priorities for its 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30). He emphasized three strategic areas in which Access Advance plans to engage more deeply with Chinese stakeholders:
- Facilitating large-scale VVC commercialization;
- Expanding VDP Pool adoption among domestic video streaming and e-commerce platforms; and
- Inviting Chinese patent holders to contribute their expertise to the upcoming AV1/AV2 Device and Software Patent Pool (August 26, 2026 ip fray article).