More than five years since Google's services began to be blocked in China, the search giant is set to re-enter the country soon following the new patent agreement with Tencent Holdings Ltd.
Google on Friday announced its new patent licensing deal with the Chinese conglomerate amid its efforts to expand in one of the biggest markets in the world. Among its services blocked include the Play Store, Google search engine, Gmail, Google Maps and YouTube.
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Tencent operates WeChat mobile chat service, QQ.com web portal, Tencent QQ instant messenger and Tencent Music Entertainment, among many other services.
Google says the deal forged with Tencent covers a wide range of products and services and paves the way for collaboration on technology in the future. However, the company did not disclose any financial terms or the scope of the new deal.
"By working together on agreements such as this, tech companies can focus on building better products and services for their users," says Mike Lee, head of patents at Google.
The search giant has not been secretive about its expansion plans in China. In fact, the launch of a local research lab and the introduction of a version of its translation app in China are geared towards that goal.
Earlier in the month, Google announced that it is investing in Chinese livestream gaming app Chushou, which works similarly to its YouTube game livestreaming service.
