Embattled Chinese tech company Huawei Technologies said its business is "pretty much back on track" despite a U.S. crackdown, with revenue in 2023 hitting its highest level since 2020.
In the company's year-end message, rotating chairman Ken Hu said the company "managed to weather the storm," with revenue reaching more than 700 billion yuan ($98.49 billion) in 2023, up more than 9% from 2022. Washington first blacklisted Huawei in 2019 and further tightened export controls on the company in 2020, flagging it as a national security risk, which Huawei has consistently denied.
"Hard work has enabled us to survive and grow, but we still have serious challenges ahead of us. Geopolitical and economic uncertainties abound, while technology restrictions and trade barriers continue to have an impact on the world. Together, these forces are reshaping business models and the global value chain," Hu said in the message to customers and employees. "We're pretty much back on track," he said.
The rotating chairman said his company has "resumed large-scale supplies of smart devices" thanks to the hard work of R&D and supply teams and had made further progress in ensuring business continuity.
Huawei's results come with Beijing having launched several retaliatory measures against the West, including banning the use of iPhones in government affiliates and introducing multiple export controls on key electronics materials such as graphite, gallium and rare earth technologies.
The Chinese company on Friday said its device business, which includes smartphones, surpassed expectations for 2023 and it plans to "double down" on efforts in this area for 2024. Huawei unexpectedly released its 5G flagship Mate 60 Pro smartphone with an in-house-developed 5G mobile chip in late August. This was the first such release since the company, once the world's second-largest smartphone maker, lost its access to vital chips due to Washington's restrictions. Nikkei Asia first reported that it aims to double smartphone shipments for 2024.
Huawei said its new automotive electronics business has become "significantly more competitive" and that it would look to work with more partners in 2024. The company unveiled an electric SUV on Tuesday with its automaker partner Seres. In November it signed a joint venture deal with Chinese carmaker Changan Automobile.
Other major Chinese tech companies have been aggressively pushing into the electric car business. Xiaomi on Thursday unveiled its first electric car, the SU7. Founder and CEO Lei Jun pledged to make Xiaomi one of the world's top 5 automakers and lift China's overall automobile industry.
Huawei said its core telecom and enterprise solutions business -- the so-called ICT infrastructure business -- remained solid in 2023, while its cloud business reported healthy growth.
The company also said it faces mounting challenges from geopolitical uncertainties, sanctions and macroeconomic conditions but pledged to continue to "crack the hard nuts" to focus on leading fundamental technologies and build complicated software and hardware platforms.
Meanwhile, Huawei said it has completed the majority of its shift to a self-developed ERP (enterprise resource planning) system for more than 200 subsidiaries globally, cutting its reliance on foreign software developers such as SAP. ERP software helps companies manage corporate operations, including the management of inventory, procurement, supply chains and human resources. American company SAP has the highest market share for providing ERP systems.
Source: Nikkei Asia
