manqiangrexue
Brigadier
Doesn't look ugly at all. 2018 was a record year; I thought this ban would significantly drop them for a year or 2 way into the red but staying at the $100B level is really very good considering what they are facing. Companies go up and down, shedding 4% revenue on a regular basis in completely healthy economic/political environments; if Huawei can actually stay at the $100B level while under what is definitely the largest siege ever seen on a tech company in history, it's just unbelievable.Financial Times quoted Ren Zhengfei stating that Huawei is cutting its 2019 revenue forecast by $20 billion. They expect no growth (but no further drop either) in 2020, with revenue staying around $100 billion for both 2019&2020. In 2018 their revenue was $105 billion.
Sounds quite ugly in the short term, but they remain optimistic about the future. They will need the full support of the Chinese government to replace the embargoed supply chains in the short term. I doubt that even someone as big as Huawei can slug this one out alone, given how massive the R&D expenditures will need to be.
And a couple of points: firstly, most of the R&D is done as they are referring to these as spare tires they've been working on for years. They are at the polishing phase. Secondly, there should be no illusion that Huawei must remain overall in the green every year. It can blitz massive resources into R&D and come up with a net loss for the year and it wouldn't be a problem because just like the growth, losing money in the short term happens to companies all the time. Thirdly, the US and EU know how to subsidize their big companies with bailouts and stuff all the time when they're in trouble. There should be no doubt that China's government has Hauwei's back in this should Huawei need it.