Huawei shook off U.S. warnings to achieve two things in 2018 for the first time ever

Huawei experienced a couple of firsts last year. The Chinese phone and networking gear firm grossed over $100 billion in 2018, the first time that the company has surpassed this mark. The actual revenue garnered by Huawei last year was 721.2 billion yuan, equivalent to $107.13 billion USD. And last year, for the first time ever, Huawei's consumer division was responsible for the majority of the firm's business.

Huawei's consumer division, which includes its handsets, brought in 348.9 billion yuan ($52 billion USD) last year. That was a 45.1% hike over 2017's figure and was led by popular high-end phones like the Huawei P20 Pro and the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. The manufacturer shipped over 200 million smartphones last year, placing it third after Samsung and Apple. The company has design's on the top spot this year. It recently unveiled its new P30 line and its foldable Mate X.

The company's carrier business, which includes the networking equipment business, generated sales last year of 294 billion yuan ($43.8 billion USD). That was a small decline from the 297.8 billion yuan that the division grossed in 2017. One reason for the decline was the warnings sent out by the U.S. government to its allies. In addition, U.S. government agencies are prevented by law from using Huawei products.

Huawei is considered a national security threat in the states because the Chinese government could request that the firm do intelligence work for it at anytime. Despite comments from executives stating that it would defy such an order, Huawei could be legally obligated to use its phones and networking equipment as tools to obtain information for the communist Chinese government. Still, even with pressure from the U.S., the company remains the top supplier of networking equipment gear in the world.

Even with all of the questions about whether Huawei equipment can be trusted, the company expects double digit growth in revenue for 2019. And so far, the new year has been good to Huawei in that regard. One of the executives who rotates as Huawei's chairman, Guo Ping, said that the combined revenues for January and February of this year are up 30% compared to the same two months last year.