Huawei, one of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment vendors, said today that it has collected more than USD 1.4 billion from patent licensing, hitting back as it faces accusations of intellectual property (IP) theft.

Song Liuping, Huawei’s chief legal officer, said at a press conference on Thursday at Huawei’s Shenzhen headquarters that the company had paid more than USD 6 billion for patent royalties to other companies in the past three decades, of which nearly 80% went to US enterprises.

Huawei, which currently holds more more than 87,000 patents worldwide, spent more than USD 2 billion on 5G research and development as of the end of 2018.

“As a technology company, respecting and protecting intellectual property has always been a core principle of our business,” Song said. “We believe these disputes should not be politicized.” He also indicated that disagreements over IP are common in international business.

“No company can become a global leader by stealing from others,” he said, countering accusations that the company’s success was based on stolen technologies.

Huawei has also distributed a white paper on innovation and intellectual property at the press conference today.