Daniel Slotta
Research expert covering Greater China
Huawei - statistics & facts
Huawei is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Guangdong, China. Founded in 1987, the company originally focused on manufacturing phone switches, but since then has expanded its operations to building telecommunications networks and manufacturing communications devices. Huawei works with some of the world’s largest telecoms operators, counting British Telecom (BT), Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile among its notable partners. This continued success has made the company the most valuable telecom infrastructure brand worldwide.
Revenue structure
Until 2021, Huawei’s revenue has consistently increased since 2007, and has been breaking its own revenue record every year. The company is split into three core business segments – carrier network business, enterprise business, and consumer business. Its carrier network business is the company’s most lucrative segment, with the consumer business sector being the second most profitable one. Although Huawei has developed into a global company, a large proportion of its revenue is still generated from its domestic market. As of 2024, the Middle East and Africa are the most important overseas market markets for the company, generating revenue of over 148 billion yuan for Huawei in 2024.A special company structure
Unlike many of its competitors, Huawei is not a shareholder-owned company but instead is controlled by its employees. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is a subsidiary of Huawei Investment & Holding which has two shareholders, Huawei’s labor union and the company’s founder Ren Zhengfei. The Trade Union Committee of Huawei and its over 121 thousand participating employees hold 98.99 percent of shares of Huawei Investment & Holding. Employees exert control through the election of 115 representatives who form a commission and the representatives commission selects the members of the Board of Directors and Supervisory Board.Huawei's smartphone division
Although Huawei supplies many white-label products for other content-service providers, it also produces and sells a variety of devices under its own name. As of the fourth quarter of 2021, the company held a share of under eight percent of the global smartphone market, selling more than 32 million smartphones in the 4th quarter of 2020. Inside China, Huawei has been the vendor with the highest smartphone market share since 2017. However, the company was facing increasing competition globally and domestically in 2020 losing market share and recording lower sales in its consumer business segment as a result of sanctions from the United States and the sale of its budget smartphone brand Honor. However, with the release of several flagship smartphone models, the company has reclaimed a market position in the Chinese market.Enterprise business segment
Despite the general perception that Huawei is primarily a consumer-facing brand, its enterprise business segment is actually the largest segment of the company and plays a significant role in its overall growth. The enterprise segment leverages a wide range of advanced technologies, including cloud computing, big data, the Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI). Huawei’s enterprise solutions are tailored for a diverse client base that includes government institutions as well as businesses across all industries. These solutions range from cloud computing infrastructure designed to support AI applications, to cutting-edge systems for automated warehouses and smart manufacturing, highlighting Huawei’s strategic focus on digital transformation and intelligent connectivity.
