Huawei's R&D investment last year reached a historic high

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本报记者 Jia Li

Recently, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Huawei”) released its 2025 annual report. The annual report shows that Huawei achieved global sales revenue of 880.9 billion yuan and a net profit of 68 billion yuan last year, with overall operational results meeting expectations.

Meanwhile, Huawei’s R&D investment remains high, reaching 192.3 billion yuan in 2025, with a total R&D investment of 1.382 trillion yuan over the past decade.

Liu Xingliang, member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told Securities Daily that under complex macro and industry environments, Huawei’s various businesses show different development trends, further focusing on the core AI (artificial intelligence) track and open-source ecosystem construction.

R&D investment of 192.3 billion yuan

From Huawei’s 2025 financial data, the company’s operations show the characteristics of “stable revenue base, steady profit, and continued heavy investment in R&D.”

Behind the revenue structure, Huawei’s various industry segments performed differently in 2025. Among them, Huawei’s connectivity industry overcame investment cycle impacts; the computing industry seized AI opportunities; terminal efforts broke through difficulties, with HarmonyOS ecosystem crossing a critical experience point; digital energy maintained quality-first principles; Huawei Cloud focused on building core competitiveness; and smart vehicle solutions developed rapidly.

Specifically, as the company’s “ballast,” Huawei’s ICT (Information and Communication Technology) infrastructure business achieved sales revenue of 13.82k yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 2.6%, making it the largest revenue contributor; terminal business achieved sales revenue of 375.01B yuan, up 1.6% year-on-year. Business recovery mainly relied on high-end product strategies and full-scenario ecosystems. Public data shows that in 2025, Huawei held a 16.4% market share in China’s smartphone market, ranking first. By the end of 2025, the number of terminal devices running HarmonyOS exceeded 36 million, and HarmonyOS developers surpassed 10 million.

Smart vehicle solutions became Huawei’s fastest-growing engine, with sales revenue reaching 344.47B yuan, a significant year-on-year increase of 72.1%. This business achieved profitability for the first time in 2024. According to HarmonyOS Smart Mobility data, in 2025, HarmonyOS Smart Mobility delivered 589k new vehicles, a 32% increase year-on-year.

Additionally, Huawei’s digital energy business achieved sales revenue of 45.02B yuan, up 12.7%, maintaining rapid growth; cloud computing business achieved sales revenue of 589k yuan, a slight decrease of 3.5%, reflecting a strategic focus with resources concentrated on core areas like AI intelligent computing.

Huawei maintained a high level of R&D intensity in 2025, with total R&D investment reaching a record high of 192.3 billion yuan, accounting for about 21.8% of total revenue.

Liu Xingliang believes that a 21.8% R&D ratio means that for every 5 yuan of revenue, more than 1 yuan is invested in technology R&D. This profit-for-R&D strategy reflects Huawei’s approach of diversified innovation in the face of technological iteration. For example, in computing, facing demand for computing power far exceeding Moore’s Law growth, Huawei did not rely solely on chip upgrades but invested in system-level architecture innovations like “cluster + super nodes.”

Clarifying six strategic high grounds

Looking ahead, Huawei has identified six strategic high grounds: connectivity, computing, cloud, terminals, intelligent driving, and artificial intelligence. Its strategic focus is shifting from underlying technology reserves to practical industry applications.

In specific strategic execution, AI has become the main thread across all businesses. Huawei’s AI strategy is divided into two ends: at the foundational level, building computing power bases and investing in large foundational models; at the application level, launching Xiaoyi intelligent agents for consumers and creating industry intelligent agent enablement platforms for B2B markets, supporting partners to empower various industries. For example, in healthcare, helping Ruijin Hospital develop clinical-grade pathology large models RuiPath; in transportation, reducing abnormal flight rates at Oman Airport by 80% through AI analysis.

Another pillar of strategy implementation is open-source ecosystem construction. 2025 is seen as a critical year for HarmonyOS ecosystem crossing a usability threshold. Huawei’s data shows that nearly 400 government and public service applications have been launched, with the HarmonyOS ecosystem transitioning from “usable” to “user-friendly.”

Ma Chao, researcher at Beijing Frontier Financial Regulatory Technology Institute, told Securities Daily that Huawei’s performance is the strongest proof of its “resilience.” Its confidence directly stems from high R&D investment. The “crossing of the HarmonyOS ecosystem threshold” and the rapid development of smart vehicle solutions are phase returns on Huawei’s early strategic investments, indicating that Huawei has established a foothold in new tracks.