Huawei says ‘survival’ is its ‘first priority’ for 2020 amid mounting pressure from Washington

Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei announced it has been hit hard by US sanctions, but managed to continue its global rise and is seeking an alternative to Google Media Services following the ban.

Company chairman Eric Xu said that sales revenue for 2019 was predicted to reach $121 billion (850 billion yuan). It is an 18-percent increase from the previous year, but was still lower than initially expected.

He attributed the setback to the US government’s “long-term” campaign against the tech giant. “These figures are lower than our initial projections, yet business remains solid and we stand strong in the face of adversity,” Xu said in a New Year’s message to employees and customers. He added: “Survival will be our first priority” in 2020. 

According to Xu, who holds the chairmanship under the company’s rotating leadership scheme, Huawei would need to “go all out” to build up its mobile services ecosystem. That will be the company’s answer to Google apps and services to “ensure that we can keep selling our smartphones in overseas markets.”

Chinese tech giant Huawei has been embroiled in the US-China trade conflict in the past year. The company was accused by the Trump administration of being a tool of the Chinese intelligence, a charge both Huawei and Beijing have repeatedly denied.

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