Huawei achieved record net profits of CNY113.7 billion (US$17.8 billion) in 2021, an increase of 75.9 per cent year-on-year.

This was released in its 2021 annual report on Monday, revealing that the company had maintained solid operations throughout the past year.

Huawei reached $99.88 billion in revenue in 2021. The company's research and development (R&D) expenditure reached CNY142.7 billion in 2021, representing 22.4 per cent of its total revenue and bringing its total R&D expenditure over the past ten years to over CNY845 billion. Moving forward, the company also plans to increase investment in R&D continuously.

At the press conference, Guo Ping, Huawei's Rotating Chairman, said: "Overall, our performance was in line with forecast. Our carrier business remained stable, our enterprise business experienced steady growth, and our consumer business quickly expanded into new domains. In addition, we embarked on a fast track of ecosystem development."

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO, also spoke at the event: "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."

Thanks to the enhanced profitability of its major businesses, the company's cash flow from operating activities dramatically increased in 2021, amounting to CNY59.7 billion. Its liability ratio also dropped to 57.8 per cent, and its overall financial structure has become more resilient and flexible.

In 2021, Huawei's carrier business generated CNY281.5 billion in revenue and helped carriers worldwide deploy leading 5G networks. Third-party test results have found that 5G networks built by Huawei for customers in 13 countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, provide the best user experience.

Huawei has signed more than 3,000 commercial contracts for industrial 5G applications by working with carriers and partners. These 5G applications are currently seeing large-scale commercial use in manufacturing, mines, iron & steel plants, ports and hospitals.

Thanks to continuing digital transformation trends, Huawei's enterprise business grew rapidly, generating CNY102.4 billion in 2021. In the past year, Huawei launched 11 scenario-based solutions for key sectors such as government, transportation, finance, energy, and manufacturing.

"Moving forward, Huawei will advance its journey of digitalisation, intelligent transformation, and low carbon. 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," Guo added. — VNS