Huawei Technologies’ quarterly earnings shrank for a second straight quarter after US sanctions devastated the embattled Chinese tech giant’s smartphone business.
Huawei reported a 17% decline in sales to C¥150.1-billion (US$23-billion) in the first three months of this year, down from C¥180.6-billion during the same period of last year. That follows a 11% decline in revenue for the three months ended December. Net income jumped more than a quarter to C¥16.8-billion as the company reined in costs, according to numbers posted on the website of the Shanghai Clearing House, a government-backed clearing services platform.
Huawei declined to comment on the results.
Shenzhen-based Huawei is emerging from its toughest year on record, when sanctions by the Trump administration smothered its once-leading smartphone business and stymied advances into chip-making and 5G networking. The Biden White House has shown few signs of letting up, prompting billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei to direct the firm towards new growth areas such as smart agriculture, healthcare, cloud computing and electric cars.
Huawei is vying with other tech giants like Baidu and Xiaomi in venturing into the rapidly evolving fields of connected vehicles, homes and workplaces. The firm pledged $1-billion towards developing self-driving and electric-car technologies this year and has started to sell EVs with partner Chongqing Sokon Industry Group. — (c) 2021 Bloomberg LP