Huawei released its 2021 Annual Report today, revealing that the company has maintained solid performance throughout the past year and how it will move forward to leverage the ICT sector for the overall good.
An event was organised in Dhaka yesterday on the occasion of unveiling the annual report. The keynote address was delivered by Pan Junfeng, CEO of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Ltd.; Jason Lizongsheng, Bangladesh Board of Directors; Kevin Xu, Chief Technical Officer; Yuying Karl, Director of Public Affairs and Communications; and other Huawei officials.
As per the report, Huawei achieved BDT 8.65 trillion (USD 99.97 billion) in revenue in 2021, and BDT 1.54 trillion (USD 17.85 billion) in net profits, an increase of 75.9% year-on-year. The company’s R & D expenditure reached BDT 1.93 trillion (USD 22.40 billion) in 2021, representing 22.4% of its total revenue and bringing its total R & D expenditure over the past 10 years to over BDT 11.48 trillion (USD 132.66 billion). Moving forward, the company also plans to continuously increase its investment in R & D.
Huawei wants to work intensively on digital power and the cloud. Therefore, in the coming days, the company has adopted a plan to continuously increase its investment in the research and development sector.
In this press conference, Pan Junfeng emphasised Huawei’s various contributions to realising the dream of Digital Bangladesh. He said, “Huawei has been working in Bangladesh for Bangladesh for the last 23 years.” During these years, Bangladesh has come a long way in the field of information and communication technology, and we are very happy to be an active member of this transition. We want to work through innovation, localization, and collaboration to realise the immense potential of Bangladesh. “
Within this short time, Huawei’s cloud service ranks fifth globally and third in China. Besides, Huawei is also working in the digital power sector. Huawei’s Smart Photovoltaic Solution has been used at the Mymensingh Solar Plant in Bangladesh. This year, Huawei wants to provide even better support for these sectors in Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Huawei has been working for many years to create ICT talent in Bangladesh. In 2021, Huawei Bangladesh jointly launched a new programme called “Bangladesh ICT Skills Competition” with the Bangladesh ICT Division.
Jason Lizongsheng said, “The ICT-based future will create many needs for skilled youth around the world. One of the great strengths of Bangladesh is the youth of this country. We want the youth of this country to create their place in the world market and take Bangladesh forward with their skills and great ideas. So, we have been working for many years to make the youth of this country proficient in the ICT sector. By the year 2025, we have planned to make about one lakh young people in South Asia skilled in ICT
, where many youths from Bangladesh will be able to participate. This year, more than six thousand young talents from Bangladesh will get this opportunity. “
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. Its liability ratio also dropped to 57.8%, and its overall financial structure has become more resilient and flexible.
In 2021, Huawei’s carrier business generated BDT 3.82 trillion (USD 44.19 billion) in revenue and helped carriers around the world 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. Through working with carriers and partners, Huawei has signed more than 3,000 commercial contracts for industrial 5G applications. These kinds of 5G applications are currently seeing large-scale commercial use in sectors like manufacturing, mines, iron and steel plants, ports, and hospitals.
Thanks to continuing digital transformation trends, Huawei’s enterprise business also grew rapidly. In the past year, Huawei launched 11 scenario-based solutions for key sectors such as government, transportation, finance, energy, and manufacturing. The company also established multiple dedicated teams, including a coal mine team, a smart road team, and a customs and port team, to combine resources in a way that more efficiently serves the needs of its customers. Over 700 cities and 267 Fortune Global 500 companies have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner, and Huawei now works with more than 6,000 service and operation partners around the world.
As part of the company’s seamless AI life strategy for consumers around the world, Huawei’s consumer business zeroed in on consumer wants and needs, further building out the global ecosystem for a smart, all-connected era. This business generated BDT 3.30 trillion (USD 38.21 billion) in revenue in 2021 and continued to see steady sales growth in smart wearables, smart screens, true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds, and Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). In particular, the smart wearable and smart screen segments both saw 30%+ year-on-year growth. In total, HarmonyOS was used in over 220 million Huawei devices as of 2021, becoming the world’s fastest-growing mobile device operating system.
During the past year, Huawei also focused on building out its openEuler, MindSpore, and HarmonyOS ecosystems based on the principles of open collaboration and shared growth. Over a million developers are currently using Huawei’s open platforms, open-source software, and development tools to explore new business scenarios and business models.
Guo stressed, “Moving forward, Huawei will advance its journey of digitalization, 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.
All financial statements in the 2021 Annual Report were independently audited by KPMG, an international Big Four accounting firm. To download the 2021 Annual Report,
