Context:
- Wi-Fi 7 is the latest generation of Wi-Fi technologies. Delivering higher throughput, lower latency, and greater reliability than any of its predecessors, it lays the groundwork for the next wave of digital transformation.
- Huawei has played a pivotal role in shaping Wi-Fi 7 technologies and holds one of the largest portfolios of declared standard-essential patents (SEPs) for Wi-Fi 7 (May 14, 2025 ip fray article). Its patent license agreements in this space covered over 1.2 billion consumer electronic devices worldwide by the end of 2024. It also recently sold some of those assets to Nokia (December 11, 2025 ip fray article). Huawei also owns a solid Wi-Fi 6 portfolio, which it used in July 2022 to join Sisvel’s Wi-Fi 6 patent pool as a founding member and licensee. In over a three-year period, that program saw agreements reached with nearly 40 companies, including Acer, Netgear, Cisco, and HP (November 18, 2025 ip fray article). The company has also since helped launch Sisvel’s Wi-Fi Multimode pool, which offers access to both WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 SEPs and which account for “roughly one-fifth of the overall patent landscape” (March Wi-Fi 7 LexisNexis report).
What’s new: Huawei has today announced that its patent licensing royalty rate for Wi-Fi 7 will be set at $0.50 per unit for all Wi-Fi 7-compliant, consumer‑grade devices (more details on its website: Huawei Wi-Fi licensing page). Interestingly, Huawei has chosen to maintain the rates at the same level as those for its Wi-Fi 6 patents.
Direct impact: This marks the first time an SEP owner has published the rates for its Wi-Fi 7 patents. Huawei is also still the only company to have published its Wi-Fi 6 royalty rates. The moves underscore its dedication to a transparent and predictable licensing environment. It would be interesting to see if any other Wi-Fi SEP owners decide to follow in its footsteps. We will keep a close eye on this.
Wider ramifications: The company notes that licenses may be obtained through bilateral agreements, “or via patent pools, on FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) terms”. While no other SEP owners have published their Wi-Fi 7 rates yet, patent pool administrator Sisvel has. And, in a landmark decision in February, the Munich I Regional Court held in Wilus v. ASUS that Sisvel’s rates are FRAND (January 30, 2026 ip fray article). The parties in that case settled a few months later, with ASUS agreeing to take a license to Sisvel’s Multimode pool (May 19, 2026 ip fray article). That program has generally seen significant momentum this year, with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), another major WLAN player, signing up in April (April 8, 2026 ip fray article), alongside Sony.
In a statement today, Huawei’s Chief IP Officer, Alan Fan, said:
“Through these initiatives, Huawei continues to facilitate collaborative licensing models that balance the interests of innovators and implementers, further reinforcing its leadership in shaping a transparent and efficient global Wi-Fi licensing environment.”
The company also notes that by proactively disclosing its rates, Huawei aims to reduce licensing uncertainty during the early commercialization of Wi-Fi 7, helping stakeholders across the value chain — from global device manufacturers to SMEs — better plan product roadmaps and cost structures.
Huawei is generally a big fan of pools, with the company’s Strategic Planning & Key Projects Department, Emil Zhang, telling ip fray in an exclusive interview earlier this year that Huawei’s high rate of pool participation is because it wants the industry to have “legal certainty”(April 20, 2026 ip fray article). Mr. Zhang strongly believes that creating programmes for industries such as the POS market, which are fragmented, will ultimately “fix” all that “uncertainty”.
For comparison purposes, here are Huawei’s rates, with Sisvel’s Multimode pool rates right underneath:
- Wi-Fi 6: US$0.50/unit (Consumer Grade Wi-Fi 6 Product)
- Wi-Fi 7: US$0.50/unit (Consumer Grade Wi-Fi 7 Product)
