China's telecoms giant Huawei Technologies says its profit fell 28% while revenue surged in 2024

BANGKOK (AP) — Chinese telecoms gear giant Huawei said Monday its net profit fell 28% in 2024 while its revenue surged, as the company invested heavily in advanced technologies.

Huawei Technologies reported 62.6 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) in net profit last year, down from 87 billion yuan the year before. Its revenue jumped 22% to $118.2 billion, with the strongest growth in its consumer goods and automotive-related sales.

The company, based in the southern city of Shenzhen, said the decline in profit was mainly due to two factors, “We continued to increase our future-oriented investment and there were no gains from the sale of businesses.”

One of China's first global tech brands, Huawei said its spending on research and development amounted to more than a fifth of its revenues, and more than half its workforce, or 113,000 people, are employed in R&D.

Spending on R&D was 179.7 billion yuan (nearly $25 billion).

Constrained by mounting trade tensions, Huawei and other Chinese tech companies are working hard to make up for shrinking access to U.S. and other foreign advanced technology.

Citing national security concerns, the U.S. has banned American companies from doing business with Huawei, cutting off its access to advanced computer chips and software such as Google services for its smartphones. It is not allowed to sell its telecommunications gear to U.S. customers.

The U.S. has also pushed its European allies including Britain and Sweden to ban or restrict Huawei equipment in their phone networks over fears Beijing could use it for cybersnooping or sabotaging critical communications infrastructure — allegations Huawei has denied repeatedly. Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada have taken similar actions.

Huawei denies that it poses any threat to its customers' national security.

Its consumer unit, which sells smartphones and other devices, reported a 38.3% jump in revenue last year. Automotive services-related sales more than quadrupled. Revenues from Huawei's cloud computing business climbed 8.5% and its digital power unit logged a 24.4% increase in sales.