Huawei is bucking the broader industry trend. While most mobile phone companies are scaling back production due to a global shortage of memory chips, the Chinese tech giant plans to raise its smartphone shipments by more than 20 percent this year. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the company instructed its suppliers to prepare for a production target of up to 60 million units. Last year, that number sat below 50 million.
This aggressive stance makes Huawei an anomaly among major Chinese phone brands this year. Other players in the region have repeatedly slashed their manufacturing forecasts. They ended up passing rising component costs down to consumers while dealing with supply bottlenecks. Huawei is taking a different path.
1 chip supplier executive confirmed that Huawei is the only Chinese customer maintaining steady demand. The supplier noted that monthly order volumes have held firm since January. According to Japanese media reports, the executive shared a clear observation of the current market:
Huawei is the only customer that has maintained its order expectations so far this year, and the growth trend is continuing.
Market research firm Omdia tracked Huawei shipments at roughly 49.17 million devices last year. That momentum carried into the early part of this year. Their global market share rose from about 4 percent last year to nearly 5 percent during quarter 1 of this year. It is a rapid ascent, even though the vast majority of those sales remain concentrated within the domestic Chinese market. Still, the company seems determined to keep pushing forward.
