Six months after being
released by Canadian authorities following a diplomatic standoff involving
Washington and Beijing, Huawei's chief financial officer said Monday the telecom
equipment giant may be emerging from a “black zone” of business disruptions due
to U.S. sanctions.
Huawei Technologies
Ltd. reported its 2021 profit rose 75.9% while sales fell under pressure from
curbs on access to most U.S. technology that crippled its smartphone business
and led to an overhaul of its global operations.
Sanctions have
"significantly affected our business,” but Huawei might be recovering as
it develops new product lines, Meng Wanzhou said in her first appearance at a
public business event since returning from Canada in September.
"For Huawei in
2021, we may have perhaps passed through the black zone of this
catastrophe," Meng said at a news conference at Huawei headquarters in the
southern city of Shenzhen.
Huawei, China's first
global tech brand, is at the center of tension with Washington over technology
and security. American officials say the company is a security risk and might
enable Chinese spying, an accusation Huawei denies.
Meng, the daughter of
Huawei’s founder, was arrested in 2018 on U.S. charges she lied to Hong Kong
banks about dealings with Iran in violation of trade sanctions. Chinese
authorities arrested two Canadians in an attempt to force Canada to release
her.
Meng was released in
September under a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will dismiss the
charges in exchange for her accepting responsibility for misrepresenting
Huawei’s dealings with Iran. The two Canadians were released after Meng
returned to China.
In a passing reference
to her arrest, Meng said, “in the few months after I came back, I have been
trying to catch up.”
Huawei's director of
communications, Guy Henshilwood, said Meng wouldn't discuss her legal case.
Sanctions imposed by
then-President Donald Trump in 2019 blocked access to processor chips and other
components and Google’s music, maps and other smartphone services. The White
House tightened those curbs in 2020 by banning global manufacturers from using
U.S. technology to make Huawei-designed chips.
Huawei has stepped up
an emphasis on the China market and on serving hospitals, mines and other
industrial customers with technologies that are less vulnerable to U.S.
sanctions. The company sold its lower-priced Honor smartphone brand in November
2020 in hopes of reviving sales by separating it from the sanctions on its
parent.
Huawei reported 2021
revenue of 636.8 billion yuan ($99.9 billion), down 28.6% from 2020. It said
its profit rose to 113.7 billion yuan ($17.8 billion).
“Our overall financial
resilience is strengthening,” Meng said. “The company is more capable of
dealing with uncertainty.”
Huawei, founded in
1987, says it is owned by the Chinese employees who make up half of its
workforce of 195,000 people in 170 countries and regions.
Huawei said its unit
that handles industrial and government customers had 102.4 billion yuan ($16.1
billion) in 2021 revenue. The company said it launched products for
transportation, finance, energy and manufacturing and created teams dedicated
to coal mines, ports and “smart roads.”
The unit that serves
phone and internet carriers had 281.5 billion yuan ($44.2 billion) in sales.
Research and
development spending, already among the world’s highest, rose to 142.7 billion
yuan, or 22.4% of revenues, up from 15.9% in 2020, the company said. That would
be the equivalent of 145 billion yuan ($23 billion).
Huawei is working on
artificial intelligence, solar power, “intelligent vehicles,” and wearable
technology, said Guo Ping, one of three executives to take turns as chairman.
“We are doubling down
on our efforts in basic science and cutting-edge technology,” said Guo. “We
will not solve our problems by saving.”
Source: Associated Press
