Xiaomi and Nokia have signed new a multi-year business collaboration and a patent cross-licensing agreement covering each vendor's cellular standard-essential patents.
As part of the transaction, fast-growing Chinese handset vendor Xiaomi has also purchased patent assets from Nokia.
Under the business cooperation component, Nokia will meanwhile provide network infrastructure equipment designed to meet the high capacity, low power requirements of large web providers and data center operators.
The two companies will also work together on optical transport solutions for data center interconnections, IP routing based on Nokia's new FP4 network processor and a joint data center fabric solution.
Xiaomi and Nokia will likewise explore opportunities for further collaboration in areas including the internet of things (IoT), augmented and virtual reality as well as artificial intelligence.
Xiaomi now has a presence in over 30 markets, and is a leading IoT player as well as smartphone vendor.
"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."Xiaomi is committed to building sustainable, long-term partnerships with global technology leaders," Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun said.
“Our collaboration with Nokia will enable us to tap on its leadership in building large, high performance networks and formidable strength in software and services, as we seek to create even more remarkable products and services that deliver the best user experience to our Mi fans worldwide."
First published in Computerworld Hong Kong