In 2023, China’s Huawei Technologies experienced its fastest growth in four years, thanks to a rebound in its consumer segment and income from new businesses such as smart car components, which accelerated its recovery from US sanctions.
Income from new businesses
Revenue increased 9.63% from the previous year to 704.2 billion yuan ($97.48 billion), with the consumer business accounting for the majority of that increase, growing 17.3% to 251.49 billion yuan.
While Huawei did not break down the consumer figure, the segment includes its handset business, which experienced a resurgence last year when the company returned to the mainstream 5G smartphone market with the Mate 60, reportedly overcoming US restrictions.
Since 2019, the US has restricted Huawei’s access to US technology, accusing the company of posing a security risk, which Huawei disputes.
Peak of 891.3Bn. yuan
Last year was the company’s third consecutive year of growth after revenue fell by nearly a third in 2021 as it began to deplete chip reserves, though revenue remains below its 2020 peak of 891.3 billion yuan.
Huawei was relatively quiet about its achievement, cancelling the press conference and launch event that it had held every year since the US restrictions began. In a press release, rotating chairman Ken Hu stated that the results were consistent with expectations.
“We’ve been through a lot over the past few years. But through one challenge after another, we’ve managed to grow.”
Meng Wangzhou, Huawei’s CFO and founder’s daughter, announced at a launch event last year that the company was no longer in crisis.
Net profit in 2023 increased by 144.5% to 87 billion yuan, with the net profit margin more than doubling from the previous year to 12.35%.
According to a company spokesperson, some of this was due to ongoing payments from the sale of the Honour smartphone brand, which Huawei sold in November 2020.
While the company’s core ICT infrastructure business remained stable, its cloud business increased by more than a fifth, generating 55.3 billion yuan.
Huawei’s four-year-old smart car software and components business also experienced significant growth, albeit from a lower base, rising 128.1% year on year to 4.7 billion yuan. Last year, Huawei announced that it would spin off its smart car unit into a new company.
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