Huawei’s Revenue Falls Down 2.2 Percent This Year Amid US Sanctions

The Chinese telecom giant, Huawei says its revenue saw a 2.2 percent fall in the first nine months of the year amid the global economic slowdown, China covid restrictions, and most significantly, US sanctions. Apart from being the “leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices”, Huawei is the world’s biggest manufacturer of network gear for phones and internet carriers.

According to figures released by the Chinese tech brand, the company’s revenue during the first nine months of the year amounted to CNY 445.8 billion (which is nearly Rs. 5,07,400 crore), and by the numbers released earlier, the third-quarter revenue supposedly rose by 6.5 per cent from a year ago to CNY 144.2 billion (which is nearly Rs. 1,64,100 crore).

As per a statement released by the company, Huawei’s profit margin was 6.1 per cent for the first nine months of this year. This reportedly amounts to CNY 27 billion (which is nearly Rs. 30,700 crores). The company also specified that the figure was a clear decline from its previous year’s numbers. However, no specific figures of the difference were shared in the statement.

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In the same statement, Eric Xu, one of the three Huawei executives who take turns as chairman, said, “The decline in our device business continued to slow down, and our ICT infrastructure business maintained steady growth.” He further added, “The overall business performance is in line with forecast.”

While speaking to the international media, a company official spokesperson talked about the revenue update and revealed, “Our device business was impacted by Covid-19 and the global economic downturn.”

In a separate statement, China’s first global tech brand revealed more concerns when it mentioned that the current year “may prove to be the most challenging for smartphones and other devices.” However, here too the company refrained from sharing any more details.

The tech company has been facing tough times since then US President Donald Trump blocked it from US technology such as chips in 2019. America has been accusing the company of facilitating Chinese spying through its products and services, a charge that Huawei has categorically denied.

After US President Joe Biden took over, the pressure on the Chinese tech company has only doubled with the US Chip Act, the legislation  “threatens Huawei’s access to global semiconductor supply chains.” Following the United States, Huawei’s 5th Generation wireless technology has also been banned in countries such as Britain and Japan citing security issues.

The Shenzhen-headquartered company has since intensified the development of network technology for various other categories of products such as auto, mines, hospitals, and manufacturing units. According to company officials, the business of Huawei is less impacted by US sanctions ever since.

Huawei’s auto venture has been instrumental in the launch of the five models by three Chinese automakers. The company is supplying software and various important components for navigation, managing vehicle systems, dashboard displays and other services.

Meanwhile, in completely separate news, the American hand drive manufacturer Seagate has revealed that the US government has warned the company as it believes Seagate has violated the export controls laws by selling hard drives to Huawei. Seagate however denies violating any laws by supplying hard drives to the Chinese tech company as the transaction was performed as per laws.

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