Huawei reported a substantial increase in revenue for 2024, driven by growth in its core telecommunications and consumer businesses. The company’s revenue reached 862.1 billion Chinese yuan ($118.2 billion), marking a 22.4% year-on-year rise. This figure is Huawei’s second-highest ever, just below the record of 891.4 billion yuan reported in 2020.
Despite the revenue increase, net profit fell to 62.6 billion yuan, a 28% decline compared to 2023. Huawei attributed this to increased investments. The company allocated 179.7 billion yuan to research and development, accounting for 20.8% of its revenue, up from 164.7 billion yuan in 2023. Huawei has been expanding into areas such as data centers for AI, cloud computing, and automotive technology.
Revenue growth was primarily driven by Huawei’s two largest businesses: ICT infrastructure and consumer, which together contribute approximately 82% of the company’s total revenue. The ICT infrastructure division, including its carrier business, saw a 4.9% year-on-year increase to 369.9 billion yuan. Huawei, one of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment providers, credited the large-scale deployment of next-generation 5G networks for this growth.
2024 marked the first year of commercial deployment for next-generation networks, referred to as 5.5G or 5G advanced, further boosting sales.
Huawei’s consumer business also experienced accelerated growth, generating sales of 339 billion yuan, a 38.3% increase. This growth was fueled by a revival in the Chinese smartphone market. Following a semiconductor breakthrough in late 2023, Huawei reintroduced high-end phones that performed well domestically. According to Canalys data, Huawei’s smartphone shipments in China increased by 37% year-on-year, raising its market share to 16% from 12% in 2023, at the expense of Apple.
Huawei launched premium smartphones, including the first-ever trifold handset, and began slowly reintroducing devices overseas. The company also released HarmonyOS 5, its self-developed mobile operating system, which reportedly no longer uses any open-source code from Google Android.
Despite these advancements, analysts note that Huawei’s overseas prospects remain challenging due to its lack of access to Android and continued restrictions on cutting-edge chips.
To mitigate the effects of U.S. sanctions, Huawei has expanded into new areas such as digital power, focusing on energy infrastructure for electric cars and renewables. This segment saw a 24.4% revenue increase to 68.7 billion yuan. Cloud computing revenue rose by 8.5% year-on-year, while the Intelligent Automotive Solution business, which develops in-car software and driver assistance systems, reported a 474.4% year-on-year revenue increase to 26.4 billion yuan.
— new from CNBC