Chinese technology giant Huawei on Monday, March 31, reported a sharp increase in its revenue last year amid the acceleration of the company’s core telecommunications and consumer businesses.
Huawei’s revenue for 2024 was recorded at the 862.1 billion yuan ($118.2 billion) mark. This indicator showed an increase of 22.4% year-on-year.
According to media estimates, the revenue that the company reported on Monday is the second largest in Huawei’s history. In 2020, the technology giant fixed a record revenue of 891.4 billion yuan.
At the same time, the company’s net profit showed a decline in 2024. The corresponding indicator was recorded at the 62.6 billion yuan mark. The mentioned figure showed a decrease of 28% year-on-year. The company stated that this was the result of increased investment.
According to media reports, Huawei, which has become one of the main targets of United States sanctions against China, is trying to adapt its business to the mentioned measures. The technology giant is already making some progress in its efforts. Sanctions from the United States have restricted Huawei’s access to major technologies, including semiconductors. At the same time, the company is gradually coping with this challenge. The corresponding forward movement is largely driven by progress in the Chinese technology sector. In 2023, Huawei released the Mate 60 Pro smartphone. This device was equipped with a Kirin 9000s chip based on 7-nanometer technology. The mentioned microcircuit has provoked discussions among US policymakers about the effectiveness of restrictions on shipments to China of cutting-edge chips and equipment for making corresponding products. For officials in Washington, the Kirin 9000s, designed and produced by China’s Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), came as a surprise. They were sure that restrictive measures by the United States had deprived China of the opportunity to manufacture such chips, but the Asian country’s technology sector turned out to be more advanced.
Huawei’s rotating chairwoman Meng Wanzhou said that last year the company’s entire team banded together to solve a wide range of external tasks while improving product quality, operations quality, and operational efficiency.
Last year, the technology giant spent 179.7 billion yuan on research and development. This figure equates to 20.8% of the company’s revenue. In 2023, Huawei spent 164.7 billion yuan on research and development. The company is currently diversifying its business into areas such as data centers for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and automotive technology.
Meng Wanzhou said that over the next three years, Huawei, despite the economic downturn, will increase its strategic investments. It was noted that special attention in this case will be paid to building foundational technologies. Meng Wanzhou also stated that the company will seek growth opportunities through differentiation.
Huawei’s sales last year were driven by the technology giant’s two largest activity lines, among them ICT infrastructure and consumer business. The mentioned activity lines collectively account for more than 80% of the company’s total revenue.
Huawei’s ICT infrastructure unit, which includes the carrier business, generated revenue of 369.9 billion yuan last year. This indicator grew by 4.9% year-on-year. It is worth noting that in terms of revenue, the mentioned business is the largest among all Huawei’s activity lines.
The technology giant is one of the world’s largest developers of telecommunications equipment. The company said that the large-scale deployment of next-generation 5G networks contributed to growth at Huawei last year.
The technology giant also noted that 2024 was the first year of commercial deployment of next-generation networks, dubbed 5.5G or 5G advanced. Against this background, the company’s sales increased.
The acceleration of the upward dynamic of Huawei’s consumer business has also been a positive revenue impact factor. The sales volume of this business last year was recorded at the 339 billion yuan mark. This indicator showed an increase of 38.3% year-on-year.
In the past, Huawei was the world’s biggest smartphone manufacturer. The company’s business in the relevant area has faced significant difficulties amid sanctions from the United States. In this case, the negative consequences were generated by restricting access to major chips and Google software. Over time, the company has overcome the mentioned problems and last year strengthened its position in the Chinese smartphone market.
Canalys data shows that in 2024, sales of Huawei mobile phones in the domestic market increased by 37% year-on-year. The company’s share in the mentioned market was 16% last year. In 2023, the corresponding figure was recorded at the 12% mark. This growth is largely because Apple’s share in the Chinese smartphone market has decreased, and the volume of shipments of the mentioned US company products has decreased.
Huawei is actively launching smartphones in the premium category. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the company released the world’s first trifold handset. Huawei is also gradually starting to relaunch devices overseas.
Moreover, the presentation of HarmonyOS 5 last year was a milestone in the company’s progress. This product is Huawei’s self-developed mobile operating system. A notable feature of HarmonyOS 5 is that it does not use any open-source code from Google Android.
The media, citing interviewed analysts, note that Huawei’s prospects related to activities outside of China are not positive, or at least unambiguously positive. In this context, it is noted that the company’s smartphones do not have access to the Android operating system, which runs most mobile phones in the world. Experts cited by the media also point out that Huawei continues to face limited opportunities to use advanced chips, despite the success associated with the Kirin 9000s. The company does not have access to microcircuits, which are applied by smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung.
To offset the negative effects of sanctions from the United States, Huawei has been pushing into new areas over the past few years, such as the digital power unit, which focuses on energy infrastructure in sectors such as electric vehicles and renewables. The mentioned business line of the company generated revenue of 68.7 billion yuan in 2024. This indicator increased by 24.4% year-on-year.
Huawei’s cloud computing activities generated revenue of 38.5 billion yuan in 2024. This indicator increased by 8.5% year-on-year.
The revenue of the company’s smallest business called Intelligent Automotive Solution for 2024 was recorded at the 26.4 billion yuan mark. This indicator increased by 474.4% year-on-year. As part of the mentioned business, Huawei is developing in-car software and driver assistance systems for third-party automakers.
Meng Wanzhou stated that the results for 2024 are in line with forecasts.
Huawei noted its intention to continue to open up the capabilities of its platform to ecosystem partners and provide developers with tools and products in domains, including HarmonyOS, Kunpeng, Ascend, and cloud computing solutions.
The company has emerged as a center of Chinese technological innovation in the chip and software areas amid the technological confrontation between Beijing and Washington. In May, Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei told the head of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, that the Asian country’s concerns about a shortage of home-grown chips and operating systems had eased.
As we have reported earlier, Huawei Launches Mate 70 Series of Smartphones.
