Huawei CEO Says Underestimated Impact Of US Ban

Huawei Technologies founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said on Monday (Jun 17) that the impact of US sanctions on the Chinese company was more severe than expected, and warned that revenue would dip to around US$100 billion this year and the next.

This is the first time that Huawei has quantified the impact of the US action against the company, and Ren’s downbeat assessment comes after weeks of defiant comments from company executives who maintained Huawei was technologically self-sufficient.

Huawei had not expected that US determination to “crack” the company would be “so strong and so pervasive”, Ren said, speaking at the company’s Shenzhen headquarters.

The company had reported revenue of 721.2 billion yuan (US$104.16 billion) last year, up 19.5 per cent from 2017.

“We did not expect they would attack us on so many aspects,” Ren said but added that he expects a revival in the business in 2021.

“We cannot get components supply, cannot participate in many international organizations, cannot work closely with many universities, cannot use anything with US components, and cannot even establish connection with networks that use such components,” Ren added.

“In 2021, we will regain our vitality and (continue to) provide services to human society.”―CNA