Xiaomi signs multi-year patent deal with Nokia, to work on IoT, VR and AI

Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi and Finnish mobile phone manufacturer, Nokia has signed an agreement for business collaboration and patent licencing where Xiaomi will acquire key patent assets from Nokia.

The multi-year patent agreement includes a cross-license to each company's cellular standard-essential patents. The financials of the deal were not disclosed.

Lei Jun, Chairman and CEO, Xiaomi, said, "As a company seeking to deliver more exciting technological innovations to the world, we are excited at the opportunity to work more closely with Nokia in future."

Under the agreement, Nokia will provide network infrastructure equipment designed to deliver high capacity, low power requirements for large web providers and data centre operators.

Nokia and Xiaomi will work together on optical transport solutions for data centre interconnect, IP routeing based on Nokia's newly announced FP4 network processor and a data centre fabric solution.

Rajeev Suri, President and CEO, Nokia, said, "In addition to welcoming such a prominent global technology company to our family of patent licensees, we look forward to working together on a wide range of strategic projects."

The companies have agreed to explore opportunities for further cooperation in areas such as Internet of Things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality and artificial intelligence (AI).