Huawei Returns to Growth in 1H23

Huawei reported revenue growth in the first half of 2023, compared with declines in the period over the previous two years. Gains were driven by consumer business and gains in ICT, cloud, and connected-vehicle units.

Rotating chair Sabrina Meng highlighted a firm performance from its ICT infrastructure business along with the consumer unit growth. She added its digital power and cloud businesses both experienced strong growth, and new components for connected vehicles continued to gain competitiveness.

Revenue rose 3.1% year-on-year to CNY310.9 billion ($43.1 billion), with its consumer group growing 2.2% to CNY103.5 billion. The vendor said it booked growth in China and overseas. Net profit margin jumped to 15% from 5% in 1H22, attributed to gains from the sale of its Honor business, along with moves to optimize management systems and improve operational efficiency.

Consumer group sales dropped from CNY255.8 million in H1 2020 to a low of CNY101.3 billion in the same period of 2022, hit by US trade sanctions. But the group recorded improvements this year, with data from IDC showing Huawei returned to China’s top-five smartphone vendor ranking in Q2, with shipments growing 76.1% year-on-year. The company said the gain was driven by new product launches and sales of its P60 series and foldable Mate X3 model. Huawei did not disclose net profit or provide a full breakdown of revenue by business group.