China's Huawei sees little impact on sales from US broadside

The US campaign against China's Huawei is having little impact on the company's sales and it is unlikely many countries will follow the United States in banning Huawei from building next-generation mobile networks, its rotating Chairman Eric Xu said.

 “Recently we are seeing a large number of countries making their own decisions,” Xu said during an interview at Huawei Technologies' headquarters in Shenzhen.

While Australia has banned Huawei from 5G networks over security concerns, European Union countries such as Germany and France have indicated they are likely to ignore the US call to shut out the telecoms giant.

“Maybe it's only Australia,” Xu told Reuters reporters after a tour of the campus.

Xu affirmed that Huawei's revenue jumped 36 percent over the first two months of 2019 and was set for a 15 percent annual spike to $125 billion, underlining strength in its smartphone business and sales of computing and communications networks.

Huawei has been facing mounting scrutiny, led by the United States, amid worries its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying. The company, however, says the concerns are unfounded.

Xu said he does not expect the United States to intensify its attack on the company by barring sales of US components to Huawei, a move that almost put its compatriot ZTE Corp out of business last year before US President Donald Trump lifted the ban.

Huawei is the world's third-largest buyer of computer chips, many of which come from US companies, and a sales ban would be disruptive to the global tech industry, Xu said.