ZTE’s 2020 revenue exceeds $15 billion, R&D investment nearly $2.3 billion  

Chinese communications firm ZTE reported total revenue of RMB 101.45 billion ($1.56 billion) in 2020, up 11.8% year-on-year.

It spent a record RMB14.80 billion on R&D, up 17.9% year-on-year and accounting for 14.6% of revenue, according to the company’s earnings report released on March 16.

As ZTE’s three main businesses, carrier networks grew 11.2% year-on-year to RMB 74.02 billion, government and enterprise business grew 23.1% year-on-year to RMB 11.27 billion, and consumer business grew 7.8% year-on-year to RMB 16.16 billion.

ZTE’s operating revenue in 2020 grew 16.9% year-on-year to RMB 68.05 billion in the domestic market and 2.7% year-on-year to RMB 33.40 billion in the international market.

ZTE achieved net cash flow from operating activities of RMB 10.23 billion in 2020, an increase of 37.4% year-on-year. The gearing ratio decreased to 69.4% from 73.1% at the end of 2019.

Notably, a report released by patent data firm IPLytics in February showed ZTE had the third-highest number of 5G standard-essential patent declarations in the world.

By the end of 2020, ZTE had 80,000 global patent applications and 36,000 validly granted patents, including more than 4,270 chip patent applications and more than 1,800 granted chip patents.

ZTE said it would build a converged video capability platform and expand the layout of scenario-based services including tele-education, telemedicine, secure office, and smart banking in combination with 5G.

The financial report showed that ZTE bought back its shares in Nubia Technology for RMB 553 million in cash, raising its stake from 49.9% to 78.33%.

ZTE expects to achieve net profit attributable to common shareholders of listed companies of RMB 1.80 billion to RMB 2.40 billion in the first quarter of 2021, an increase of 130.8% to 207.7% year-on-year. CnTechPost