China’s Huawei reports modest revenue growth for first three quarters

By David Kirton

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – China’s Huawei Technologies saw a slight uptick in revenue in the first three quarters of 2023, with the company citing growth in its digital power and cloud businesses as well as the growing competitiveness of its vehicle components unit.

Huawei posted revenues of 456.6 billion yuan ($62.4 billion)for the first three quarters of the year, up 2.4% from a year earlier.

Profit rose 177.8% in the period to 73.05 billion yuan, according to Reuters calculations. Though the rise is largely attributable to payments related to the company’s sale of its Honor smartphone unit in November 2020, a Huawei spokesperson said.

For the third quarter, revenue rose 1.5% to 145.7 billion yuan, according to Reuters calculations.

The growth was “in line with forecast,” Huawei’s rotating Chairman Ken Hu said in a press release.

Huawei’s smartphone sales surged in the third quarter thanks to the release of the Mate 60 series at the end of the August, three research firms said this week, with Counterpoint Research reporting a 37% year-on-year increase for the company.

That marks a comeback for Huawei, though from a low base, since their smartphone business has been hard hit by U.S. export controls imposed against the company since 2019.

However, the Huawei spokesperson attributed the third-quarter revenue growth to increases in the digital power, cloud and auto parts businesses, and said the Mate 60 series sales were initially constrained by limited supply and a release relatively late in the quarter.

Richard Yu, Huawei’s Smart Car CEO, announced earlier this month that the Huawei-backed electric-vehicle brand Aito has received more than 70,000 orders for its revamped M7 model, and that it was investing in its supply chain to meet demand.

($1 = 7.3165 renminbi)