Huawei Technologies shrugged off efforts by the US government to stop other nations using its technology, with revenue jumping on shipments of phones, 5G equipment and other products.

First quarter sales rose 39% from a year earlier to 179.7-billion yuan (US$27-billion), the company said in a statement on its website. Its net profit margin was about 8%, slightly higher than last year.

The US government is pushing nations around the world to stop Huawei from supplying equipment for the next generation of mobile phone networks.

Australia has banned it and Japan has indicated that it won’t be allowed to participate in the roll-out of the new networks, but other nations have been sceptical of the US claims that using the Chinese company’s products creates an espionage risk.

As of the end of March, the company said it had shipped more than 70 000 5G base stations to markets worldwide and signed 40 commercial contracts with phone network carriers. It also shipped 59 million smartphones. — Reported by James Mayger, (c) 2019 Bloomberg LP