Research and development activity spending by Huawei 2014-2024
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Huawei have significantly increased their spending on research and development in recent years. In 2012 the company spent 29.7 billion Chinese yuan on R&D and have increased spending across each of the following years. In 2024, the company spent more than 179 billion Chinese yuan on R&D.
Spending up across the company
As well as R&D, spending has increased in several key areas across the company. Reflecting the company’s increased output, spending on semiconductors grew from 4.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2013, reaching 24 billion U.S. dollars by 2018. However, from 2019 onwards, the company's semiconductor expenditure decreased significantly.The change in semiconductor spending coincides with Huawei establishing HiSilicon as a wholly-owned subsidiary. HiSilion is a fabless semiconductor company based in Shenzhen.
Huawei’s uncertain future
Until 2020, Huawei has enjoyed a surge in sales and brand recognition in the west. Huawei phones made up eight percent of all smartphone shipments worldwide in the Q4 2020. In Q4 2020 the company shipped 32 million smartphones. The stellar run came to an end, following the May 2019 announcement that companies such as Google, ARM, Intel and Qualcomm will no longer be able to work with Huawei under U.S. trade bans. While the company claims to have developed their own operating system, questions remain whether the company will be able to manufacture their own chips without the assistance of ARM, the company that is crucial in enabling Huawei to produce their own chips and processors.
