- Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies Co almost doubled its R&D budget over the past half-decade to $22.1 billion in 2021, Bloomberg reports.
- The R&D budget was equivalent to 22.4% of Huawei's sales in 2021, nearly double Amazon.com Inc's (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google-owner Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) proportions and more than triple iPhone-maker Apple Inc's (NASDAQ:AAPL).
- Only Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) came close among the so-called Faang contingent with 20.9%, according to Bloomberg.
- Huawei was one of just six global companies to spend over $20 billion on R&D in 2021, doubling its budget from five years earlier, rivaling Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple and Meta. Meta quadrupled its spending while Amazon more than tripled its R&D budget.
- Huawei won 2,770 U.S. patents in 2021, putting it at No. 5 behind International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE:IBM).
- Huawei's supervisory board Chair Guo Ping said, "Huawei cannot acquire advanced technologies, we have to increase investment in technology development."
- That growing war chest highlights Huawei's effort to develop chips, networking gear, and even smartphones since Washington indicted Huawei of jeopardizing U.S. national security.
- The U.S. sanctions wiped out nearly a third of the company's revenue in 2021.
- Huawei raised capital by selling off assets and relying on its industry-leading IP portfolio.
