Despite being faced with sanctions in the US, Huawei still saw increased spending with US suppliers in 2019, according to Huawei’s Chairman, Eric Xu.
In an interview with Financial Times, Xu said that the company’s expenditure with US firms rose from $11 billion in 2018 to $18.7bn, an uptick of 70 per cent.
After being added to the “trade list,” Huawei, together with 60 of its affiliates, were barred from trading with its US allies; unless the US firms applied for an additional temporary license.
Besides, the US has also been lobbying other countries to stop trading with the Chinese tech company citing security risks. Nevertheless, that did not deter many countries from making their own decisions. For example, Britain allowed Huawei to take part in non-core parts of its 5G network infrastructure despite pressure from the US to retaliate.
On mobile components, a company’s spokesperson reveals that Huawei has continued to trade with US-based tech firms, including Google, Microsoft, Broadcom, and Qualcomm, using temporary licenses.
Aside from this, the Chinese firm has relentlessly continued to work on its alternative technology – they have also continued to launch phones and promote their proprietary technology.
Xu still insists they don’t wish to stop using supplies from US-based tech companies.
On the financial side, the company is already seeing the effects of the ban – 2019 revenue fell short of estimates by $12bn – as growth slows in every part of its business.
In 2020, Eric Xu says the company’s consumer business has performed “pretty good” in Q1, as compared to a similar period last year. The revenue is “on par or slightly growing” compared to the previous year, he added.
