Huawei posts record-high revenue in 2019
Huawei's revenue grew 18 percent in 2019 to hit a record-high 850 billion yuan (US$121.4 billion) proceeds despite of US tech sanctions, the Shenzhen-based tech giant said on Tuesday.
But the company is still facing a “challenging year” in 2020 with “survival as a priority target,” Huawei’s rotating chairman Eric Xu said in a New Year's open letter.
Huawei attributed its revenue increase to 5G contracts globally and booming smart device sales. Still, revenue growth slowed somewhat compared with last year's 19.5 percent.
According to the letter, Huawei has a “leading position” in 5G and offered services to 228 companies in 700 cities worldwide. In 2019, its smartphone sales hit 240 million units, making it the world’s No.2 vendor behind Samsung.
The company could become the top player in the global smartphone market if it didn’t face an “uncertain environment,” Richard Yu, Huawei’s consumer business group president, said at a previous conference.
In 2018, US officials added Huawei to the Commerce Department’s trade blacklist and placed restrictions on its ability to sell to American carriers. It also pressured allies to exclude Huawei from 5G network rollouts. Huawei’s finance chief Meng Wanzhou remains under house arrest in Vancouver, Canada, more than a year after her initial detention.
In the coming year Huawei will strengthen services for clients and partners and create value for digital societies, according to the letter.