Huawei’s 2023 profit more than doubles, as a sales rebound helps tech giant hack a profitable path out of US sanctions
- The privately held firm recorded a 9.63 per cent increase in revenue to US$97 billion in 2023, while profits surged 144.5 per cent year on year
- Company executives skipped this year’s annual results press conference, a tradition dating back to 2013
Huawei Technologies’ 2023 net profit more than doubled, as rising sales of its mainstay telecoms equipment and a comeback in consumer products – funded by a record R&D budget – helped the privately held company hack a profitable path out of restrictive US sanctions.
The Shenzhen-based firm’s 2023 revenue grew 9.6 per cent to 704.2 billion yuan (US$97 billion), Huawei said in its annual report released on Friday. Sales of information and communications (ICT) technology infrastructure grew by 2.3 per cent to 362 billion yuan, making up half of the revenue.
Net profit for the year soared to 87 billion yuan, up 144.5 per cent from 2022, partly due to recurring gains from its sale of budget smartphone unit Honor and other assets. Profit margin was 12.4 per cent in 2023, compared to a historical low of 5.5 per cent in 2022.
One of the strongest growth sectors was Huawei’s cloud computing business, which expanded 21.9 per cent last year to 55.29 billion yuan. Huawei’s consumer business, including its flagship Mate 60 smartphones and its co-developed Aito electric cars, recorded a 17.3 per cent increase to 251.5 billion yuan in 2023.
It was the first growth posted for the consumer business since 2021, after the US government tightened its restrictions against Huawei’s access to advanced semiconductors developed or produced using US technology, effectively crippling its smartphone business.
