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Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.

2021 Annual Report

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Press Conference

Highlights of Huawei 2021

Messages

Moving forward, Huawei will advance its journey of digitalization, intelligent transformation, and low carbon. We will continuously increase investment in talent, scientific research, and innovation, in an effort to reshape our foundational technologies. Building on this, we will bring together ICT technologies and our global experience to drive digital transformation across different industries, and create greater value for both our customers and society at large.

Guo PingGuo Ping, Rotating Chairman

2022 may prove to be more challenging yet, but we are confident in what the future holds. We will work closely with our global partners to overcome the challenges we face as we seek to pull through and develop as a business. We will also keep increasing investments in the future to create greater value for our customers, the communities where we operate, and the society that we serve. Our goal is to survive – and to do so sustainably.

Liang HuaLiang Hua, Chairman of the Board

Financial Performance

In 2021, Huawei maintained a solid financial position and our operating results were in line with forecast.
  • Revenue (CNY Billion)

    636.8

    28.6%

  • Net Profit (CNY Billion)

    113.7

    75.9%

  • Cash flow from operating activities (CNY Billion)

    59.7

    69.4%

Revenue by business segment (Unit: CNY Billion)

Revenue by region (Unit: CNY Billion)

Research and Innovation

Despite intense pressure, Huawei still invests heavily in R&D and innovation. Its R&D expenses in 2021, in absolute amount terms and as percentage of revenue, both hit a 10-year high.
  • 845 bn

    Over the past decade, Huawei's total R&D investment surpassed CNY845 billion.

  • 54.8%

    In 2021, 107,000 employees, representing 54.8% of Huawei's total workforce, worked in R&D.

  • 22.4%

    In 2021, Huawei's total R&D expenditure amounted to CNY142.7 billion, equaling 22.4% of the company's total revenue.

  • 110,000+

    By the end of 2021, Huawei held a total of 110,000+ active patents, across 45,000+ patent families.

Business Highlights

  • We have supported the evolution of innovative 5G services from technical verification to commercial application. Innovative, 5G-powered applications, such as AR, VR, and free-viewpoint video, are already a reality in multiple countries and regions. Our RuralStar series solutions provide high-quality mobile broadband services to remote villages, driving rural digitalization. To date, they have provided connectivity to more than 60 million people in over 70 countries and regions.
  • We are committed to making IP on Everything a reality, and have launched an end-to-end Intelligent Cloud-Network Solution. Together with upstream and downstream industry organizations, carriers, and industry customers, we have guided the real-world application of IPv6 and IPv6 Enhanced.
  • Huawei Cloud has continued to expand its global data centers and acceleration networks. Through cloud-network collaboration, we strive to connect people, things, and applications, provide a seamless experience on one global network, enable efficient distribution and processing of information streams, and quickly deliver cloud services to where they are needed.
  • HarmonyOS has been deployed on more than 220 million Huawei devices. More than 4,500 products from over 1,900 ecosystem partners have joined HarmonyOS Connect. In 2021, over 115 million new HarmonyOS Connect devices were shipped.
  • Our Ascend AI platform is empowering the development of new information infrastructure represented by AI computing centers. More than 20 cities in China are planning or building AI computing centers, which are enabling scientific research, innovation, and industrial development. Working with partners, Huawei has launched a wide range of industry-specific solutions, such as Ascend Smart Manufacturing Solution, Ascend Smart Transportation Solution, and Ascend Smart Inspection Solution, enabling the intelligent upgrade of industries.
  • We upgraded openEuler as an open source OS that supports digital infrastructure. Huawei and its partners also officially donated openEuler to the OpenAtom Foundation.
  • Huawei Cloud released technologies such as the Pangu pre-trained models and the OptVerse AI Solver. By diving into industries and building the intelligent hubs they need, we have amassed considerable know-how related to the application of AI in these industries, and applied this know-how in more than 20 Chinese cities and multiple enterprises that are setting the bar in various fields.
  • In the intelligent automotive solution domain, we unveiled five innovative solutions: HarmonyOS Intelligent Cockpit, 4D imaging radar, MDC 810, the Huawei Octopus autonomous driving open platform, and an intelligent thermal management system.
  • Supported by the HarmonyOS and Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) ecosystems, we deliver a Seamless AI Life experience to consumers across five major user scenarios: smart office, fitness & health, smart home, easy travel, and entertainment.
  • Following its integration into our wearables and smart screens, HarmonyOS now powers smartphones, tablets, car cockpits, and other Huawei products, further enriching the Seamless AI Life experience for our consumers. HarmonyOS Intelligent Cockpit enables a vehicle's own apps to connect seamlessly to devices such as smartphones and smart home systems, making the fully-connected vehicle a reality.
  • We launched HMS Core 6, which provides more advanced open technical capabilities and services, including 69 kits and 21,738 APIs in seven domains (e.g., Graphics, Media, and AI). The HMS mobile app ecosystem, the world's third largest, has continued to thrive. In 2021, the number of HMS apps worldwide jumped by 147% compared to 2020, and there were over 432 billion app downloads worldwide.
  • Building on our strengths in ICT infrastructure technologies, characterized by device-network-cloud synergy, we have stepped up efforts to create a digital ecosystem where all players create and share value together in order to help industries go digital. Over 700 cities and 267 Fortune Global 500 companies worldwide have chosen Huawei as their partner for digital transformation, while over 30,000 partners are working with us to serve the enterprise market.
  • Huawei Cloud is the world's fastest growing major cloud service provider and continues to empower industries. We have launched more than 220 cloud services and 210 solutions, and attracted over 30,000 partners and 2.6 million developers worldwide. More than 6,100 applications are now available on the Huawei Cloud Marketplace.
  • Huawei Cloud launched the MacroVerse aPaaS platform. With developers at its core, this one-stop, open platform aggregates the capabilities of partners from across a wide range of industries and offers expertise as a service, empowering scenario-tailored innovation in industries and accelerating industry digitalization.

Ecosystems

Huawei Cloud ecosystem

We bring together developers worldwide and empower our partners to address the pain points that customers face during digital transformation.

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Kunpeng/Ascend ecosystem

Huawei's strategy is "open hardware, open source software, partner enablement, and talent cultivation". We are working to build a diversified computing ecosystem.

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HMS/HarmonyOS ecosystem

HarmonyOS has become the world's fastest-growing operating system, and HMS has become the world's third largest mobile app ecosystem.

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Intelligent automotive solution ecosystem

We have worked with more than 300 upstream and downstream partners from across the automotive industry to build an intelligent automotive ecosystem.

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Creating Social Value

The digital economy is changing the way the world creates and distributes value. Businesses are now finding they must strike a balance between business value and social value. The more social value they create through the monetization of business opportunities, the more new business opportunities they are finding. While creating business value for our customers, we recognize the importance of requirements from non-market stakeholders.

Boosting economic growth and employment

Huawei works tirelessly to boost employment and the economies of the countries and regions where we operate as part of our larger "Glocalization" strategy. This includes efforts such as hiring locally, investing locally, procuring locally, and establishing research facilities locally.

  • Huawei ranked second in the European Commission's 2021 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard released in December. Huawei established its first European R&D center in Sweden in 2000, and now has 23 R&D centers across Europe.
  • Huawei ranked eighth in Forbes' World's Best Employers 2021. Despite many internal and external challenges, Huawei continued its global recruitment of tech talent and created jobs locally.

Enabling the digital transformation of industries

ICT technologies directly create value and drive immense indirect value by transforming other industries. New ICT technologies can help improve organizational and social productivity, leading to even greater social benefits as they see wider adoption in the industrial, agricultural, financial, and transportation sectors, among others. Huawei is already exploring applications of 5G tailored for over 20 industries.

  • In mines, 5G is used to remotely control underground shearers, roadheaders, and railcars. This improves the working environment for miners by freeing them from unsafe underground operations and greatly enhances the production safety of coal mines.
  • In steel mills, 5G-enabled remote control systems increase efficiency and reduce employee exposure to excessively hot and noisy working environments.
  • In precision manufacturing, 5G is applied in various scenarios, including machine vision and AR-assisted maintenance. It makes factories more automated, more intelligent, more productive, and capable of flexible manufacturing.
  • In the chemical industry where flammables, explosives, high temperatures, and toxic chemicals pose regular safety hazards, 5G-powered inspection robots and mobile monitors are deployed to capture video from the factory floor for 24/7 analysis, allowing for more accurate hazard prediction.
coal mine

Thanks to intelligent technologies, underground operations at a coal mine in Shaanxi province, China, now rely on few or even no staff, making the coal mine safer, greener, and more productive.

Supporting local industry ecosystems and SMEs

Huawei is committed to open collaboration and innovation to help build thriving industry ecosystems. We help incubate local ICT industry ecosystems and support local digital economies by providing open platforms for local partners, SMEs, and individual developers.

  • Huawei was named among the top 25 Global Corporate Startup Stars by the European Commission's Startup Europe Partnership initiative, in recognition of its contributions to startup development. Through Huawei Cloud infrastructure and Huawei Mobile Services, we are helping startups grow, develop new products, and expand into new markets. We also enable tech startups by giving them access to cloud-native, AI, big data, and other technologies.
  • In France, our Digital InPulse program has helped more than 80 startups tap into international markets over the past eight years.

Developing digital talent

In a digital economy, digital talent is the key to digital transformation and economic growth. Digital skills and literacy are essential to the development of the digital economy. As per the United Nations, they are also a basic human right in the digital era.

  • Since 2008, Huawei has launched or sponsored multiple talent development programs and competitions at the global, regional, and country levels, including scholarship programs, Seeds for the Future, Huawei ICT Academy, Huawei Developers Training, Huawei Cloud Developer Institute, Women in Tech, and Technology for Education (e.g., DigiSchool, DigiTruck, and SmartBus). We have already invested more than US$150 million into these programs as part of our commitment to local ICT talent development, and 1.54 million people from over 150 countries have benefited from them.
  • In 2021, Huawei announced Seeds for the Future Program 2.0 at its "Tech & Sustainability: Everyone's Included" forum. As part of this program, we will invest US$150 million in digital talent development over the next five years and we expect this effort to benefit more than three million additional people.
women in tech

In September 2021, Huawei combined multiple training programs to create the Seeds for the Future Women in Tech program in Ghana, the first session of which provided AI training for 50 female college students.

Digital inclusion

Leaving no one behind in the digital world: Huawei launched its TECH4ALL initiative to promote digital inclusion for all. The goal of the initiative is to bring digital technology to every person, home, and organization. We run projects together with our partners and are making technology more inclusive by investing in technology, applications, and skills.

  • 110,000+ teachers and students from 400+ schools, as well as many unemployed young people, have been able to access the Internet and improve their digital skills and scientific and technological literacy through TECH4ALL projects
  • 32 protected areas in 25 countries have used digital technology to more efficiently conserve natural resources and biodiversity with the help of TECH4ALL projects
  • 4.4 million+ visually impaired users and 800,000+ hearing impaired users use the accessibility features on Huawei devices each month, enjoying the convenience of technology
  • 60 million people in remote areas across 70+ countries have been connected through Huawei's RuralStar solution

Security and trustworthiness

Taking responsibility to build trust: Cyber security and privacy protection are a top priority at Huawei, and we continue to invest and remain transparent in both areas. We have worked to improve our software engineering capabilities and practices, build resilient networks, develop trustworthy and high-quality products, and support stable network operations and business continuity.

  • 70+ cyber security certifications were awarded to Huawei, giving our customers internationally recognized security assurances
  • 20,000+ requests from data subjects were promptly and effectively handled by Huawei, respecting and protecting user privacy
  • 35 Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certificates were awarded to Huawei in 28 countries and regions across five continents, ensuring supply chain security
  • 180+ major incidents where Huawei supported stable network operations

Environmental protection

Contributing to a clean, efficient, low-carbon, and circular economy: We are committed to minimizing our environmental impact in manufacturing, operations, and over the entire lifecycles of our products and services. Huawei's innovative products and solutions help industries reduce their energy consumption and emissions, and contribute to the circular economy. We actively work with all our industry partners to shrink our carbon footprint.

  • 98% of our top 100 suppliers and energy-intensive suppliers set carbon emissions reduction targets as encouraged by Huawei
  • 17.6 million+ kWh of electricity was generated by the PV plants on Huawei campuses
  • 848,000 fewer tons of GHG emissions as a result of Huawei buying 1.75 billion kWh of electricity from clean sources
  • 89% less plastic was used in the packaging of our P50 flagship phones compared to the P40 series, with plastic accounting for less than 1% of the packaging

Healthy and harmonious ecosystem

Collaborating for the common good: We operate with integrity and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations, and continue to enhance sustainability risk management. We work to ensure that our employees can develop and realize their personal value. We conduct due diligence on our global supply chain to ensure its sustainability. We actively contribute to the communities we operate in. Our goal is to work with all industry partners to build a healthy and harmonious industry ecosystem.

  • CNY15 billion+ invested in employee benefits
  • 47 hours of training received annually by every Huawei employee on average
  • 1,600+ major suppliers received risk ratings from Huawei, representing more than 90% of our procurement spending
  • 427 charitable activities run by Huawei worldwide
techclass

Cyber Security and Privacy Protection Challenges and Opportunities

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Annual Report 2021

Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd. 2021 Annual Report

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