Chinese tech giant Huawei posts over fivefold rise in Q1 profits

BEIJING: Tech giant Huawei’s profits surged over fivefold year-on-year in the first quarter of 2024, a company filing showed Tuesday, as the firm continues a rebound and bit into competitor Apple’s sales in China.

Net profit in the January-March period amounted to $2.7 billion, up 564 percent from the first quarter of last year, according to a results filing by Huawei’s holding company on an official website and confirmed by a representative of the firm.

Revenue during the period also rose 36.7 percent year-on-year to reach $24.7 billion, the filing showed.

It did not break down profits by sector.

Huawei competitor Apple saw iPhone sales slump by 19 percent in the first quarter in China, Bloomberg reported, citing market research firm Counterpoint.

The latest results come a month after Huawei said its profits more than doubled in 2023, a year in which the smartphone maker continued efforts to diversify its business operations.

Sanctions imposed by Washington in 2019 severely restricted Huawei’s access to US-made components, as technological competition between China and the United States intensified.

Washington has warned that Huawei’s equipment could be used for espionage by the Chinese government, an allegation the company denies.

Revenue growth in the first quarter was achieved by “seizing opportunities in digitalization, intelligence, and decarbonization”, a Huawei representative told AFP, adding: “the industry and global markets will remain rife with uncertainty for the rest of 2024”.