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Huawei’s revenue grew at the slowest pace in three years in 2025, as declining sales at its cloud computing division and weak smartphone growth hit the tech group’s withdrawal from US sanctions.
The Chinese group on Tuesday reported a 2.2 percent rise in revenue last year to Rmb880.9bn ($127bn), compared with a 22.4 percent rise in 2024. Net profit rose 8.7 percent to Rmb68bn.
The slowdown comes after several years of strong sales growth for the Shenzhen-based company, as it has steadily bounced back from a series of U.S. sanctions and regulatory actions since 2019.
In recent years, Huawei has become central to China’s effort to free its industries from dependence on American companies for cutting-edge technology infrastructure, particularly semiconductors.
The group has accelerated its chip development to help domestic tech companies compete with their global peers despite limited access to the world’s best technology in the field. The company’s Ascend chips are the main competitor to Nvidia’s products in China.
The slowdown in Huawei’s revenue was caused by a 3.5 percent decline in cloud computing revenue to Rmb32.1bn and weak growth in its key consumer business, including its smartphone segment. Consumer unit revenue grew only 1.6 percent in 2025, compared with more than 38 percent a year earlier.
The company was hit by strong demand for Apple’s iPhone 17 late last year. Huawei retained the largest share of the mainland smartphone China market last year, but its shipments grew only 1.7 percent overall, compared with Apple’s 7.5 percent increase, according to Counterpoint Research.
“In 2025, Huawei’s connectivity business will mitigate the impact of industry investment cycles,” Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s rotating chairwoman and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, said in a statement.
He said the company’s consumer business has overcome “formidable challenges” as it has advanced its native HarmonyOS operating system, which rivals Google’s Android, while its computing business has taken advantage of opportunities in AI.
Huawei’s fastest sales growth came from its automotive unit, which designs software chips and infotainment systems for a growing range of electric vehicle brands. Revenue rose 72 percent to Rmb45bn.
The Chinese conglomerate also increased its research spending as it increased investments in AI and semiconductor technologies.
Research and development costs reached a record high of RMB192.3 billion in 2025, equivalent to more than a fifth of revenue, and 7 percent higher than a year earlier.
