Huawei shrugs off international pressure as revenues set to grow by a fifth

Huawei Technologies is expecting to grow revenues by around a fifth in 2018, despite increased international pressure and security concerns over its products.

The company’s rotating chairman Guo Ping said that the technology firm is expecting revenues to hit $108.5bn (£85.7bn) this year, an increase of 21 per cent year-on-year.

Despite western concerns over its role in the roll-out of the next generation of cellular technology, Guo said that Huawei had managed to secure 26 contracts to provide 5G.

Meanwhile, the firm expects to ship more than 200m smartphones in 2018.

The world’s largest telecom equipment provider has faced growing international pressure over claims that its devices are being used by the Chinese government for covert spying.

This morning UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson told the Times: “I have grave, very deep concerns about Huawei providing the 5G network in Britain. It’s something we’d have to look at very closely.”

“We’ve got to look at what partners such as Australia and the US are doing in order to ensure that they have the maximum security of that 5G network and we’ve got to recognise the fact, as has been recently exposed, that the Chinese state does sometimes act in a malign way.”

Williamson becomes the first cabinet minister to publicly raise concerns about the company. Earlier this month the head of MI6 also questioned about Huawei’s role in the roll-out.

Huawei’s chief financial officer Sabrina Meng was arrested in Canada this month on US sanctions busting charges. Meng, who was later bailed, denies the charges. She is also the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei.