The giant Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, announced on Friday that it had been able to “weather the storm” of US sanctions by announcing an increase in its revenues by approximately 9% in the year 2023, during which it launched a smartphone that made Washington question the effectiveness of the restrictions. Huawei, which is headquartered in Shenzhen (south), was at the heart of an intense technological competition between China and the United States, with Washington warning that the Chinese company’s equipment might be used for espionage purposes on behalf of the Chinese government, which the group denies. The US sanctions imposed by Washington on the company since 2019 deprived Huawei of access to American-made components and technologies, forcing it to diversify its sources. The company’s rotating president, Ken Ho, said in New Year’s remarks on Friday, “After years of hard work, we were able to weather the storm.”
He added that in 2023, the group expects its revenues to reach more than 700 billion yuan ($99.2 billion), an increase of approximately 9% over last year.
But it remains much less than the 891.4 billion yuan that the group achieved in 2020, that is, the year before the company announced a sharp decline in its sales due to US sanctions. However, the company appears to be recovering as it reported moderate sales growth for the first nine months of the year in October. Ken Ho continued, “The common conviction helped us break the siege and move forward together,” but at the same time he warned that the company faces “major challenges.” He explained, “There are many geopolitical and economic uncertainties, while technological restrictions and trade barriers continue to affect the world.”
But “changes in the business environment are not only caused by geopolitical conflicts, but also by fluctuating global economic cycles.”
Exciting development
During a visit by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to Beijing in August, Huawei launched its Mate 60 Pro phone. This phone, which operates with a locally produced high-tech chip, sparked controversy about the effectiveness of US sanctions. Earlier this month, Raimondo told Bloomberg that this development was “worrying” and pledged to respond forcefully to ensure that it did not harm American national security.
The “Mate 60 Pro” phone was able to reduce the profits of the American company “Apple” in China, according to what Bloomberg quoted analysts in October. Huawei remains the world leader in the field of manufacturing 5G equipment, the fifth generation of mobile Internet.
The United States is trying to persuade allied countries to ban “Huawei” from their fifth generation networks, saying that Beijing may use the group’s products to monitor communications and data traffic in any country.
