Huawei's quarterly profit surges as comeback gathers pace

BEIJING (Reuters) -Huawei Technologies's net profit leapt 564% to 19.65 billion yuan ($2.71 billion) in the first quarter, a regulatory filing by its parent company showed on Tuesday, as it continues to recover from U.S. sanctions.

Huawei's revenue for the quarter to March rose 37% to 178.5 billion yuan, the filing to China's National Interbank Funding Center showed. It did not break down how business units, such as consumer and smart car components, performed.

A Huawei spokesperson said "digitalization, intelligence, and decarbonization" helped to drive revenue growth.

"The industry and global markets will remain rife with uncertainty for the rest of 2024. Nevertheless, we are continuously building out mechanisms for global business continuity and agile operations," the company said.

"We are confident that we can meet our annual business targets and achieve sustainable growth."

Last year, Huawei recorded its fastest revenue growth in four years, with a rebound in its consumer segment and income from new businesses like smart car components accelerating its recovery from U.S. sanctions.

The company's smartphone business has undergone a renaissance since it was crippled by repeated rounds of U.S. sanctions since 2019, after Huawei rolled out a new high-end smartphone powered by a domestically-made chip last year that has taken Chinese market share from Apple.

Apple's share in the world's biggest smartphone market fell to 15.7% in the first quarter from 19.7% a year earlier. That put it almost level with Huawei, which saw sales jump 70%, research firm Counterpoint said last week.

Huawei also started selling its highly anticipated, high-end Pura 70 smartphone series this month.

It has become a force in smart car technology too, with its driver assistance system touted by at least seven Chinese automakers at the Beijing auto show.

($1 = 7.2381 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Jason Neely and Mark Potter)