London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Dec 07, 2025

Huawei expects 2021 revenue to drop by 28.9% as sanctions drag on

Huawei expects 2021 revenue to drop by 28.9% as sanctions drag on

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei said Friday it expects revenue for this year will come in at 634 billion yuan ($99 billion), a 28.9% drop from a year ago.

The company has suffered from U.S. sanctions, the semiconductor shortage and a global slump in demand for smartphones.

The full-year estimate for 2021 indicates Huawei’s revenue for the second half of the year declined from that of the first six months to 313.6 billion yuan, from 320.4 billion yuan.

The company reported 891.4 billion yuan in revenue in 2020, up 3.8% from the previous year. That’s far slower than the 19.1% year-on-year increase reported for 2019, with revenue of 858.8 billion yuan.

Friday’s release came as part of an internal New Year’s message from Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping, who focused on rallying employees to press on.

The letter did not specify reasons for the drop in expected revenue, but noted “serious challenges” from “an unpredictable business environment, the politicization of technology, and a growing deglobalization movement,” according to an English-language version seen by CNBC.

Guo added that “this past year, our carrier business remained stable, our enterprise business experienced solid growth, and our device business expanded swiftly into new business domains.”

For next year, Guo said the company’s aims include increasing efforts to build up and attract talent, and developing automotive-related technologies.

Last week, Huawei announced the first electric car with its HarmonyOS operating system would likely begin deliveries in late February.

Huawei typically releases its more detailed annual report in March.

Figures released for the first half of 2021 showed the two largest business segments, consumer and carrier, saw sharp year-on-year declines. The far smaller enterprise business, which has become central to Huawei’s growth strategy, grew by 6.6 billion yuan.

In 2019, former President Donald Trump’s administration put Huawei on a blacklist that restricted American companies from selling technology to the Chinese company, citing national security concerns. Huawei has denied it poses such a threat.

While those restrictions haven’t eased, other tensions between Huawei and the U.S. government have.

CFO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, returned to work at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen this fall after reaching an agreement with the U.S. government regarding wire fraud charges.

Meng had fought extradition to the U.S. from Vancouver, where she was arrested in December 2018. She spent most of the last three years under house arrest, in which her 10 million Canadian dollar ($7.9 million) bail conditions allowed her to venture out during the day with security tracking.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
Two and a Half Weeks After the Major Outage: A Cloudflare Malfunction Brings Down Multiple Sites
UK data-regulator demands urgent clarity on racial bias in police facial-recognition systems
Labour Uses Biscuits to Explain UK Debt — MPs Lean Into Social Media to Reach New Audiences
German President Lays Wreath at Coventry as UK-Germany Reaffirm Unity Against Russia’s Threat
UK Inquiry Finds Putin ‘Morally Responsible’ for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions on GRU
India backs down on plan to mandate government “Sanchar Saathi” app on all smartphones
King Charles Welcomes German President Steinmeier to UK in First State Visit by Berlin in 27 Years
UK Plans Major Cutback to Jury Trials as Crown Court Backlog Nears 80,000
UK Government to Significantly Limit Jury Trials in England and Wales
U.S. and U.K. Seal Drug-Pricing Deal: Britain Agrees to Pay More, U.S. Lifts Tariffs
UK Postpones Decision Yet Again on China’s Proposed Mega-Embassy in London
Head of UK Budget Watchdog Resigns After Premature Leak of Reeves’ Budget Report
Car-sharing giant Zipcar to exit UK market by end of 2025
Reports of Widespread Drone Deployment Raise Privacy and Security Questions in the UK
UK Signals Security Concerns Over China While Pursuing Stronger Trade Links
Google warns of AI “irrationality” just as Gemini 3 launch rattles markets
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
Macron Says Washington Pressuring EU to Delay Enforcement of Digital-Regulation Probes Against Meta, TikTok and X
UK’s DragonFire Laser Downs High-Speed Drones as £316m Deal Speeds Naval Deployment
UK Chancellor Rejects Claims She Misled Public on Fiscal Outlook Ahead of Budget
Starmer Defends Autumn Budget as Finance Chief Faces Accusations of Misleading Public Finances
EU Firms Struggle with 3,000-Hour Paperwork Load — While Automakers Fear De Facto 2030 Petrol Car Ban
White House launches ‘Hall of Shame’ site to publicly condemn media outlets for alleged bias
UK Budget’s New EV Mileage Tax Undercuts Case for Plug-In Hybrids
UK Government Launches National Inquiry into ‘Grooming Gangs’ After US Warning and Rising Public Outcry
Taylor Swift Extends U.K. Chart Reign as ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Hits Six Weeks at No. 1
250 Still Missing in the Massive Fire, 94 Killed. One Day After the Disaster: Survivor Rescued on the 16th Floor
Trump: National Guard Soldier Who Was Shot in Washington Has Died; Second Soldier Fighting for His Life
UK Chancellor Reeves Defends Tax Rises as Essential to Reduce Child Poverty and Stabilise Public Finances
No Evidence Found for Claim That UK Schools Are Shifting to Teaching American English
European Powers Urge Israel to Halt West Bank Settler Violence Amid Surge in Attacks
"I Would Have Given Her a Kidney": She Lent Bezos’s Ex-Wife $1,000 — and Received Millions in Return
European States Approve First-ever Military-Grade Surveillance Network via ESA
UK to Slash Key Pension Tax Perk, Targeting High Earners Under New Budget
UK Government Announces £150 Annual Cut to Household Energy Bills Through Levy Reforms
UK Court Hears Challenge to Ban on Palestine Action as Critics Decry Heavy-Handed Measures
Investors Rush Into UK Gilts and Sterling After Budget Eases Fiscal Concerns
UK to Raise Online Betting Taxes by £1.1 Billion Under New Budget — Firms Warn of Fallout
Lamine Yamal? The ‘Heir to Messi’ Lost to Barcelona — and the Kingdom Is in a Frenzy
Warner Music Group Drops Suit Against Suno, Launches Licensed AI-Music Deal
HP to Cut up to 6,000 Jobs Globally as It Ramps Up AI Integration
MediaWorld Sold iPad Air for €15 — Then Asked Customers to Return Them or Pay More
×