MediaTek played down the potential impact of a patent infringement lawsuit Huawei filed against it in a Chinese court, a move the latter took to bolster its R&D budget, Nikkei Asia reported.

The outlet noted details about the content of the lawsuit have yet to be made public, but pinned Huawei’s move as a bid to increase income from licensing fees and royalties.

Along with generating funds for its R&D efforts, an observer told Nikkei Asia Huawei is also flexing its muscle in terms of its patent holdings.

In response, Nikkei Asia reported MediaTek has confirmed the case to the Taiwan Stock Exchange and the company claimed it would have no significant impact on its business.

Huawei holds about 20 per cent of standard essential patents for 5G alone, added the news outlet.

Huawei began upping its patent actions in 2021 in response to US curbs. The past 12 months have seen the vendor agree deals with Ericsson, Xiaomi, Sharp, Amazon and vivo, among others.

Counterpoint Research data ranked MediaTek as the top provider of smartphone processors in Q1, ahead of Qualcomm and Apple.

But reports earlier this week indicated the Taiwan-based company could face troubled times if former US President Donald Trump is re-elected, after he singled the territory out as a key competitor to his nation’s chip business and outlined plans for hefty tariffs on Chinese goods.