Huawei, China’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, saw its net profit reach an all-time high of 113.7 billion yuan in 2021, up 75.9% from the previous year. On the other hand, sales fell 28.6 percent year-on-year to 636.8 billion yuan.
Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou made the remarks at a performance presentation held at Shenzhen headquarters in Guangdong Province. Huawei, an unlisted company, is not obligated to disclose its performance, so it only briefly discloses annual sales and net profits.
It is the first time that CFO Meng has appeared at an official corporate event since his surprise release in September last year after three years of house arrest.
In 2021, Huawei’s cash liquidity increased 69.4% year-on-year to 59.7 billion yuan, and its debt ratio decreased to 57.8%, down from 62.3% of the previous year.
Meng said, “Our size (sales) has decreased, but net profit and cash liquidity are increasing,” stressing, “We have strengthened our ability to respond to uncertainties and strengthened the soundness of the overall financial structure.”
Huawei Rotating CEO Guo Ping said, “The problem facing the company has not been solved, and we have not yet received high-tech semiconductor chips from companies around the world,” adding, “We need to make efforts for survival and development this year.”
Guo said, “The U.S. sanctions have brought great difficulties to Huawei,” adding, “Solving the supply of semiconductor chips is a very complex issue and requires patience.”
Huawei is still in a difficult situation due to U.S. government sanctions, a lack of semiconductor supply, and sluggish global demand for smartphones.
Huawei’s consumer sales plunged 49.6 percent year-on-year to 243.4 billion yuan in 2021.
Huawei’s mobile phone shipments in 2021 fell 81.6% from 2020 to 35 million units, and its global market share also decreased from 15% in 2020 to 3% in 2021.
However, Huawei is known to have expanded its technology investment despite business difficulties.
In 2021, the company invested 142.7 billion yuan, or 22.4% of its total sales revenue, in the R&D sector.
