Huawei Reports Revenue Uptick
Huawei Technologies Inc said on Friday that its revenue rose 3% in the first half of 2023, the first such increase since 2020, indicating the company is able to rebuild its business amid continued US government restrictions.
Huawei reported revenue of 310.9 billion yuan ($43 billion) in the first half of 2023. It did not provide a profit figure, but said its profit margin was 15%, or about 45 billion yuan ($6.5 billion), compared to a margin of 4.3 % in the first quarter of this year.
The private company said the improvement in profitability was due to improved management systems and proceeds from the sale of some assets, but gave no details.
Notably, sales of Huawei's consumer products division, which oversees smartphones, rose 2.2% year on year to 103.5 billion yuan in the first half.
The company's information and communication technology infrastructure generated revenue of 167.2 billion yuan, cloud business 24.1 billion yuan, digital energy business 24.2 billion yuan, and smart car solutions business 1 billion yuan.
The consumer segment is the only division that compares on a year-over-year basis, as Huawei only started reporting revenue disruptions to the cloud and other areas late last year.
Huawei President Meng Wanzhou said: "Huawei has invested heavily in key technologies to capitalize on the trends of digitization, intelligence and decarbonization, focusing on creating value for our customers and partners."
Xiang Lijan, CEO of the Consumer Information Alliance, a telecom industry association, said that after the US government imposed severe restrictions on Huawei in 2019, the company worked hard to minimize the negative impact on its earnings.
To this end, the company is exploring new business areas. Huawei's efforts include smart car technology, cloud computing, digital energy solutions, and enterprises. "These efforts are beginning to bear fruit," Xiang said.
Huawei also plans to make a strong comeback in the smartphone industry. In the second quarter of this year, Huawei's share of the domestic smartphone market rose to 13% from 7.3% a year earlier, despite the decline in the overall market, according to market research provider International Data Corp.
More importantly, Huawei, whose smartphone business has been constrained by US government restrictions since 2019, is ranked second in the high-end segment according to IDC.