Which company licensed Tesla's AC motor patents?

Westinghouse licensed Tesla’s AC motor patents. In July 1888, George Westinghouse’s company obtained rights to Tesla’s polyphase alternating-current motor and related electrical designs, giving Westinghouse a crucial foundation for its AC power system.

Tesla’s induction motor used a rotating magnetic field produced by polyphase current. Unlike many earlier motors, it did not require a commutator, reducing sparking and maintenance. Westinghouse also hired Tesla as a consultant, and he spent part of 1889 working at the company’s Pittsburgh laboratories.

The agreement became important during the “war of the currents,” when Westinghouse and Edison-backed interests promoted competing AC and DC systems. Financial problems later forced Tesla to give up the royalty arrangement, but Westinghouse continued developing and marketing the technology. The company’s use of Tesla’s patents helped support major projects, including the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the Niagara Falls power system.

A common mix-up is General Electric: it later participated in patent-sharing arrangements with Westinghouse, but it was not the company that originally licensed Tesla’s AC motor patents.