Huawei will return to smartphone ‘throne’ despite sanctions, says chairman

Huawei Technologies’ chairman said while US sanctions have choked its smartphone business, it will not give up and plans to eventually return to the industry’s “throne”.

In 2019 former US President Donald Trump accused Huawei of being a threat to national security, put it on an export blacklist and barred it from accessing critical technology of US origin, affecting its ability to design its own chips and source components from outside vendors.

“Everyone knows that phone chips need advanced technology in a small size with low power consumption. Huawei can design it, but no one can help us make it: we’re stuck,” Huawei Chairman Guo Ping was quoted as saying in a transcript of a recent Q&A with staff seen by Reuters.

Guo added, however, that the problems were solvable.

“Huawei will continue to exist in the field of mobile phones and with continuous advances in chip production, the smartphone throne will eventually return,” he said. “Huawei will never give up overseas markets and its mobile phone business and will never be a company limited to the Chinese market only. The policies of individual countries do not affect Huawei’s overall presence in the world,  Guo Ping noted in a recent statement.

“”The US has created many difficulties for Huawei but they are solvable. It is in the supply chain where the US has a big impact on Huawei. We need more investment and innovation to deal with the US sanctions. Huawei has established and helped its industrial chain partners to solve the problems of supply continuity and competitiveness,” he continued.

Huawei, once briefly the world’s biggest smartphone vendor, dropped out of the ranks of China’s top five sellers in the latest quarter, the first time in more than seven years, according to research firm Canalys.

In November, Huawei sold off its lower-end smartphone brand Honor – a move aimed at keeping the business alive.

Huawei’s revenue tumbled 29 per cent in the first half of this year, its biggest ever fall, with revenue from its consumer business group which includes smartphones, diving 47 per cent to  CNY 135.7 billion ($21 billion).