My Take | Huawei shows China’s supply chain resilience amid trade sanctions, tech decoupling fears

While it is hard to describe Huawei Technologies as “thriving” under US sanctions, it can be said with confidence that the Shenzhen-based smartphone and telecommunications equipment giant has survived Washington’s trade restrictions.

According to privately held Huawei’s latest financial data, the company’s revenue in the first half of 2024 was about similar to its revenue in the same period in 2019 before the trade sanctions started affecting its operations. The United States government added Huawei to its trade blacklist in May 2019.

Although there are more questions than answers about Huawei’s present technological capabilities, particularly its closely guarded information related to semiconductors, there is no doubt that the company has made much progress in its tech self-sufficiency efforts in spite of US restrictions.

In August last year, the release of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro 5G handset – powered by an advanced, locally made 7-nanometre processor – surprised the global smartphone industry for that chip breakthrough under US sanctions. Speculation has swirled that Huawei’s Mate 70 series, expected to be released in the fourth quarter, will use a more advanced 5-nm chip.

The revival of Huawei’s 5G smartphone business shows to a certain extent the resilience of China’s manufacturing supply chain. What Huawei accomplished could well be the tip of the iceberg for the mainland’s supply chain transformation under various tech and trade restrictions.