On February 24, 2026, at the Guangdong High-quality Development Conference, Huawei Technologies’ chairman Liang Hua took the stage and delivered news that rippled across the global tech industry: Huawei’s sales revenue for 2025 had soared to more than 880 billion yuan (roughly $123 billion), according to multiple sources including South China Morning Post and TechNode. The figure, just shy of the company’s all-time record set in 2020, signals a remarkable recovery for the Chinese technology giant, which has spent the last six years navigating the turbulent waters of U.S. sanctions and shifting market dynamics.
“We are maintaining stable operations in order to provide globally competitive products and services,” Liang said, as reported by Yonhap News Agency. His words encapsulated a year that saw Huawei not only weather ongoing export controls but also reclaim lost ground in its core markets. The 2025 revenue marks the company’s second-highest annual result, trailing only the 891 billion yuan ($124.7 billion) achieved in 2020, and represents a 2.2% increase from 2024’s 862 billion yuan ($120.4 billion), as detailed by Bamboo Works.
The company’s interim results painted a picture of growing momentum. In the first half of 2025, Huawei reported operating revenue of 427 billion yuan ($59.8 billion), up about 4% year-on-year, according to SCMP. By August, the company revealed that net profit for the first half had fallen 32% year-on-year to 37.1 billion yuan ($5.2 billion), as margins came under pressure amid fierce competition and rising costs, TechNode noted. While profit figures for the full year were not disclosed, historical context shows that Huawei’s profits have generally declined in recent years—62.2 billion yuan in 2024, down 28% from the previous year, with operating margins dropping from 14.8% to 9.2%.
Yet, despite narrower profit margins, the company’s overall operations remained stable, and its strategic focus on high-quality growth and core competitiveness paid off. “The company maintained strategic focus during the year and adhered to a quality-first development approach, striving to provide competitive products and services to customers worldwide,” Liang emphasized in his remarks, as reported by TechNode.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of Huawei’s 2025 resurgence was its performance in the smartphone market. After being battered by U.S. sanctions that restricted access to advanced chips and Google’s Android operating system, Huawei’s smartphone business had suffered a dramatic decline. In 2021, revenue plummeted by 29%. But in a testament to its resilience, Huawei clawed its way back to the top in 2025, shipping 46.8 million smartphones and capturing a 17% market share, according to Omdia. IDC’s figures closely corroborate this, reporting 46.7 million units shipped and a 16.4% market share, just edging out Apple’s 16.2%. Vivo, which had led in 2024, slipped behind both Huawei and Apple.
Market observers cited by Yonhap News Agency and SCMP attribute this rebound to Huawei’s ability to adapt to the sanctions environment. The company doubled down on domestic demand and restructured its business portfolio, focusing on self-developed chips and its proprietary HarmonyOS operating system. “Huawei revived its smartphone business in the last three years using its own self-developed chips and operating system, after being banned from using products from Qualcomm and Google,” Bamboo Works noted.
The numbers tell a compelling story. In a market that shrank by 1% year-on-year to 282.3 million units, Huawei’s resurgence is even more impressive. The fourth quarter saw Apple lead with 16.5 million units shipped, while Huawei ranked fourth with 11.1 million units. Still, on an annual basis, Huawei’s total shipments propelled it back to the number one spot for the first time since 2020—a symbolic victory given the challenges of the intervening years.
HarmonyOS, Huawei’s answer to Android, has also gained significant traction. Liang reported that more than 40 million devices now run HarmonyOS 5 or the latest HarmonyOS 6, with over 75,000 applications and services available on the platform. “More developers and partners are joining the HarmonyOS ecosystem,” Liang remarked, highlighting the company’s focus on expanding mutual benefits by integrating the digital economy with the real economy. The operating system’s adoption has spread beyond smartphones, finding use in industries such as finance, power, energy, transport, and telecommunications.
Huawei’s ambitions extend well beyond consumer electronics. The company has been accelerating its push into artificial intelligence infrastructure, leveraging its in-house Ascend chip platform as a domestic alternative amid ongoing U.S. export controls. At least 43 mainstream large AI models have been pre-trained on Ascend chips, and more than 200 open-source models are compatible with the Ascend ecosystem, according to Liang. This move positions Huawei as a key player in China’s drive for technological self-sufficiency.
Meanwhile, Huawei has been expanding into smart driving technology, forging partnerships with a growing number of automakers. While its core telecoms equipment division has faced headwinds—China has sharply curtailed spending on 5G networks after several years of aggressive building—the company’s diversification efforts are starting to bear fruit. “Huawei is expanding into smart driving technology through partnerships with automakers,” Bamboo Works reported.
Despite the positive revenue trajectory, challenges remain. Falling profit margins and intense competition in both domestic and international markets have forced Huawei to rethink its strategies. The U.S. sanctions, which were once thought to be a near-fatal blow, have instead acted as a catalyst for innovation and self-reliance within the company. By focusing on its strengths—hardware, software ecosystems, and AI infrastructure—Huawei has managed to stabilize its core businesses while investing aggressively in new growth areas.
Looking back, the company’s journey since 2020 has been anything but smooth. After reaching a record high in revenue, Huawei faced a dramatic downturn, only to engineer a gradual but impressive comeback. The 2.2% revenue growth in 2025 may seem modest in isolation, but given the context of global headwinds and persistent sanctions, it stands as a testament to the company’s resilience and adaptability.
As the dust settles on 2025, Huawei’s near-record revenue and regained smartphone crown underscore its determination to remain a formidable force in the global technology arena, even when the odds seem stacked against it.