Huawei says revenue increases by over 23 per cent despite US ban

Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies said on Tuesday that its revenue has been increased by 23.2 per cent year-on-year to USD 58.3 billion in the first half of the year, even as its top official admitted US sanctions would bring challenges in the coming months.

The US has banned Huawei, the world’s leader in telecom equipment and the number two smartphone producer, over concerns of security and Washington has been pressuring other countries to restrict the operations of the Chinese telecom firm.

The Shenzhen-based company generated revenue of 401.3 billion yuan (USD 58.3 billion) in the first six months of the year, up from 325.7 billion yuan during the same period in 2018 due to a jump in smartphone shipments and robust demand for its 5G equipment, the company said.

The net profit margin was 8.7 per cent in the first six months, Huawei said in a press release here. Huawei’s key business segments consumer, carrier and enterprise produced revenue of 220.8 billion yuan, 146.5 billion yuan and 31.6 billion yuan respectively, it said.

According to Huawei’s Chairman Liang Hua, operations are smooth and the organization is as sound as ever, despite the US ban. The US ban on Huawei products prompted Google to withdraw its services to Huawei’s future phones which could curtail access to its Android operating system.

Huawei managed to boost sales despite the effects of being included on the US Commerce Department’s Entity List, which prevents the company from buying American-made technology.

“There has been some impact on our business (from the US ban) such as intelligent computing and on our server and consumer business in non-China markets but generally in the first half the impact has not been large,” Liang was quoted as saying by the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. Liang said operations are smooth and the organisation is as sound as ever. He, however, admitted that with the US actions “objectively we are facing many difficulties.”

With effective management and an excellent performance across all financial indicators, Huawei’s business has remained robust in the first half of 2019, the press release said. In Huawei’s carrier business, H1 sales revenue reached CNY 146.5 billion, with steady growth in production and shipment of equipment for wireless networks, optical transmission, data communications, IT, and related product domains.

To date, Huawei has secured 50 commercial 5G contracts and has shipped more than 150,000 base stations to markets around the world, he said. Last month, China gave green light to its major state-owned companies to start rolling out 5G services in its efforts to move ahead in the global race for setting up the super-fast telecommunications system.

Beijing city has built 4,300 5G base stations in the city’s urban core areas and iconic buildings to implement the superfast technology as the Chinese government started issuing 5G licenses to telecom firms.

Huawei released its first 5G smartphone, the Huawei Mate 20 X, on July 26.