‘Survival’ Top Priority for Huawei As Sales Fall Short

After announcing that 2019 sales were expected to fall short of projections as a result of US sanctions, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei said on Tuesday that “survival” was its top priority.

Chairman Eric Xu said Huawei’s sales revenue for 2019 was likely to reach 850 billion Yuan (US$121 billion) — up roughly 18 percent from the previous year.

Though he said “business remains solid”, the figure was lower than a previous forecast of US$125 billion.

In a New Year’s message to employees, Xu said the US government was in the midst of a “strategic and long-term” campaign against the company that would create a “challenging environment for Huawei to survive and thrive”.

“Survival will be our first priority” in 2020, said Xu, the current chairman under the company’s rotating leadership scheme.

The global leader in telecom networking equipment has been effectively banned by the United States from working with American firms on the grounds that it poses a national security threat — an accusation the Chinese company has consistently denied.

Xu says Huawei would need to “go all out” to build up its mobile services ecosystem — its answer to the Google apps and services — to “ensure that we can keep selling our smartphones in overseas markets”.

The company has faced obstacles and suspicion from the US and other foreign nations wary of its close relationship with the Chinese government-while telecom experts consider Huawei a global leader in 5G equipment in terms of both technology and price.

United States intelligence chief claims that Huawei is not trustworthy and that the equipment offered by the company poses a National security threat accusation which Huawei has dismissed constantly.