Huawei Continues Steep Global Rise

The scandal around government influence on smartphone maker Huawei has created doubt around Chinese companies in international collaborations and ultimately led to several countries banning and restricting the company from participating in 5G network upgrades.

But despite the turmoil, Huawei has continued its meteoric international rise, posting revenues of more than $136 billion in 2020, up from $123 billion in 2019. According to Canalys, the Chinese market share of Huawei reached a record 39 percent in 2019. The company has been benefiting from the consolidation of the Chinese smartphone market that has been decreasing in volume since 2016. In 2020, however, Huawei's Chinese market share decreased for the first time amid the global chip shortage that ensued in Q4, leading to an average 2020 market share of just 37 percent. Huawei has said that the U.S. ban was to blame for the shortfall, even though opinions on that differ.

The United States Justice department unsealed a case against the smartphone maker in January of 2019, which left the reputation of China’s rising tech star tarnished. The case against the company includes a slew of allegations including the stealing of trade secrets from competitor T-Mobile and skirting U.S. sanctions against Iran. But so far, it looks as if it hasn't stopped Huawei from growing its business.

Globally, Huawei's market share fell to 15 percent of shipments in 2020, down from 17.6 percent in 2019.