BEIJING: Huawei’s revenue dipped by just under six percent in the first half of 2022, company figures showed Friday, as the Covid-19 pandemic and US-China trade rivalry hit sales.
The Chinese telecom giant brought in 301.6 billion yuan ($44.8 billion), according to the data, a slip of 5.9 percent on the previous year.
“While our device business was heavily impacted, our ICT infrastructure business maintained steady growth,” Ken Hu, Huawei’s rotating chairman, said in a statement.
Weak global demand due to the pandemic, as well as a 2019 US blacklisting that snarled its supply chains, have hurt the company’s device business, which sells smartphones and laptops, a Huawei spokeswoman told AFP.
In the second quarter, Huawei lost its position among the top five global smartphone sellers, according to industry data provider Canalys.
A supplier of networking equipment, phones, and other state-of-the-art gear, Huawei has struggled in the wake of a crackdown by the administration of former US president Donald Trump, which cited cybersecurity and espionage concerns.
The Biden administration has added to the pressure on the firm with the recently passed US Chip Act, which could threaten its access to global semiconductor supply chains.
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Profit growth for the first half slowed to five percent, down from 9.8 percent over the same period last year, Friday’s figures showed.
The company’s smartphone sales have also slowed after the United States barred it from using Google’s Android services, continuing to decline in the first half.
The firm has launched its own Harmony operating system, which is now being used on 300 million Huawei devices mostly in China, but it is yet to be rolled out internationally.
The company’s global 5G infrastructure expansion plans have also faced a backlash in major economies including the UK, Australia and India over security concerns.
New business lines
In the wake of US sanctions, the tech giant has tried to shore up other parts of its business.
It has refocused on the Chinese market and diversified to enterprise and cloud computing, designing smart car components and energy efficiency systems.
“We will harness trends in digitalization and decarbonization to keep creating value for our customers and partners, and secure quality development,” Hu said.
Huawei is not publicly listed and its accounts are not subject to the same audits as companies traded on the stock market.
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