China's tech giant Huawei has licensed technologies to top automakers including Mercedes Benz, Audi, BMW and Porsche as it seeks to turn its trove of patents into a new revenue source amid a U.S. clampdown on its core businesses, Nikkei Asia reported on December 23.

Alan Fan, global head of Huawei's Intellectual Property Department, told Nikkei Asia that the patent licensing agreements, reached during the second half of 2022, mean Huawei technologies will be used in 15 million of the 70 million cars produced globally each year.

In addition to the four German carmakers, Huawei signed licensing deals with Subaru of Japan, Renault of France, Lamborghini of Italy and Bentley of the U.K., according to Fan. It was reported that Huawei signed similar agreements with Samsung Electronics and Chinese smartphone maker Oppo earlier this month.

“Huawei signed more than 20 new or extended patent license agreements in 2022, covering technologies for smartphones, connected vehicles, networks and the internet of things. In the automotive industry alone, we reached deals with around 15 carmakers for using our advanced wireless technologies," Fan said, “What is most significant is Huawei's patents are generating values in multiple different ways, and patents are public and are not [subject] to export controls."

Meanwhile, Nikkei also reported that Huawei extended patent licensing agreement with Nokia on December 23. The two companies first reached the agreement in 2017 resolving a legal dispute that arose over the matter.

As of the end of 2021, Huawei held more than 45,000 valid authorized patent families (over 110,000 pieces) worldwide, of which more than 90% are invention patents. Huawei ranked first in the number of patents granted by the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) and the European Patent Office (EPO) in 2021.