Huawei says sales rose 18% in 2019 despite US pressure

BEIJING: Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies said Tuesday that its sales rose about 18% in 2019 despite U.S. moves to restrict its business.

The estimate came in an annual New Year’s message to employees from chairman Eric Xu. The letter predicted 2020 would be a difficult year, saying the American pressure creates a challenging environment for Huawei to survive and thrive.

“Despite concerted efforts by the U.S. government to keep us down, we’ve made it out the other side and continue to create value for our customers,” Xu wrote near the start of the letter, which was released to the AP and other media.

The U.S. government says Huawei technology poses a security risk and has urged other countries not to buy its 5G mobile network equipment. It has also put Huawei on its entity list, blocking U.S. technology sales to the company. Huawei denies the allegations.