Huawei revenue edges up in first quarter but profit margin narrows

Chinese tech giant Huawei said its revenue edged up 0.8% from a year earlier in the first three months of 2023 and the company was profitable.

Revenue rose to 132.1 billion yuan (£15.3 billion), a company statement said.

It said its net profit margin was 2.3%, down from 4.3% a year earlier.

The company, headquartered in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, has responded to US sanctions that devastated its smartphone brand by expanding into serving hospitals, ports and other industrial customers.

It gave no breakdown of sales by global region or business line.

It said spending on research and development increased but gave no details.

Huawei Technologies, China’s first global technology brand, has struggled since then-US president Donald Trump cut off access to US processor chips and other technology in a feud with Beijing over technology and security.

American officials say the company is a security risk and might facilitate Chinese spying, which Huawei denies.

The company is the biggest global maker of network equipment for phone and internet companies.

It sold its Honor smartphone brand in 2020 and switched its emphasis last year on selling technology to car makers, factories, mines and other industrial customers.

Huawei reported earlier that its 2022 profit fell 70% to 35.6 billion yuan (about £4.2 billion) while sales rose 0.9% to 642.3 billion yuan (£75 billion).

The company reported an unusually large 2021 profit due to the sale of the Honor smartphone unit.

Half of Huawei’s 207,000 employees work in research and development.

The company says it has been able to develop replacement components for US versions.

Huawei says it has made breakthroughs in developing its own design tools for processor chips.