Trump’s Trade War Takes Its Toll: Huawei CEO Likens It To A ‘Damaged Plane’ And Forecasts $30 Billion Revenue Hit 

The sustained campaign by Donald Trump led U.S Administration against Huawei Technologies is causing enormous damage to the company. The company’s founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei is forecasting a hit to revenue to the tune of $30 billion this year and next. Ren Zhengfei provided these estimates during a panel at the company’s Shenzhen headquarters on Monday (17 June).

“Over the next two years, the company will reduce production. We estimate we’ll reduce production by $30bn,” Ren Zhengfei said during the panel discussion “This [calendar] year and next year, our revenues will be around $100bn.”

Ren Zhengfei also likened his company to a “badly damaged plane” and said it will resort to massive reduction of production capacity.

Earlier this May, the US put Huawei on a blacklist, restricting sales from American companies to the Chinese telecoms giant. US officials have long been accusing Chinese tech companies like Huawei of stealing trade secrets and threatening cybersecurity.

Trump Administration has also initiated measures to bar US carriers from using Huawei equipment for next-generation 5G networks on the grounds of national security grounds. Huawei had made massive investment in 5G wireless technology, hoping to lead the world in the race to adopt the new technology.

Ren Zhengfei expects Huawei to clock a revenue of about $100 billion in 2019. This represents a decline from last year’s roughly $107 billion. Huawei had earlier targeted 2019 revenue to come in around $125 billion. The privately-held company does not make detailed disclosure on its finances, though it publishes an audited annual report.

Huawei has witnessed spectacular growth over the years by building a strong presence in networking equipment and smartphones. It has already surpassed Apple Inc. to emerge as the second-largest maker of smartphones, behind Samsung Electronics.

In further bad news for Huawei, its international smartphone sales is also estimated to fall by between 40m and 60m units this year.