TELECOM giant Huawei maintained solid operations throughout 2021, achieving 113.7 billion yuan (US$17.8 billion) in net profit, up 75.9 percent year on year, the company said yesterday.

The Shenzhen company brought in revenue of 636.8 billion yuan last year, representing a 28.5% year-on-year decline. That is the company’s first yearly decline in revenue based on publicly available reports dating back to 2002.

“Despite a revenue decline in 2021, our ability to make a profit and generate cash flows is increasing, and we are more capable of dealing with uncertainty,” said Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer.

Huawei’s annual report release yesterday was the first high-profile corporate event Meng has attended since returning to China from Canada last year. She spoke at yesterday’s press conference at Huawei’s headquarters in Shenzhen.

Huawei’s consumer division, which houses smartphone sales and other products, brought in 243.4 billion yuan in 2021, down nearly 50% year on year.

The carrier business, which includes sales of telecommunications equipment, posted revenue of 281.5 billion yuan, down by around 7% year on year.

One bright spot for the company was its nascent enterprise business, its smallest division currently, but one Huawei is focusing heavily on. Huawei’s enterprise unit includes cloud computing.

Huawei spent 142.7 billion yuan on research and development in 2021, higher than 2020′s figure of 141.9 billion yuan despite a smaller revenue.

“Relying on talent, scientific research, and an innovative spirit, we will continuously increase investment to reshape our paradigms for fundamental theories, architecture, and software, and build our long-term competitiveness,” said Guo Ping, Huawei’s rotating chairman. (SD News)