Huawei's big comeback, explained
Why Tech Geopolitics Strategists Rewatch This 20-Minute Huawei Sanction Survival Huawei fought "more and bigger sanctions than any other major company in recent history" yet revenues "basically back to previous 2020 peak when sanctions applied," profits "never dipped below 5% margin." Regained "#1 spot in China, world's largest phone market"—premium segment "Harmony has more than twice as much market share as all Android brands combined." Built Harmony OS Next replacing Android and achieved "China's first mass-produced 7nanometer class chip." The lobbying loophole disaster at 04:15 exposes enforcement failure: Qualcomm "successfully lobbyed US to let them sell Snapdragon chips to Huawei so could use those in phones instead"—caveat being "weren't allowed to turn on 5G on them, such ridiculous regulatory move." Also "got approval to buy Windows licenses, Intel and AMD chips for laptops"—US businesses "lobbyed their way into sweet deals that basically kept Huawei's various businesses alive that would have probably died short-term without them." The $15B Honor spin-off transfusion at 06:19 reveals cash injection: "Honor was subbrand making over 70 million phones, more than third of Huawei's total smartphone output"—spin-off "gave muchneeded cash injection of about $15 billion." Controlling shareholder "seems to be state-owned asset supervision commission of Shenzhen government"—means "Honor at least as entangled with CCP as Huawei ever was, deal basically direct cash transfusion from government to Huawei." The 25% R&D spending spike at 07:52 quantifies reinvention commitment: "Before ban Huawei hovering around 15% which was already way higher than competitors, outspent Apple in total dollar terms"—after ban "made yet another jump with peak of pretty bonkers 25%." Plus "Chinese government also does whole bunch of R&D around chips and then essentially just hands that over to Huawei." The Harmony OS gradual transition at 11:32 shows strategic patience: "Earlier versions still operate with ton of Android code, started replacing it bit by bit using Harmony OS code"—eventually "system slowly flipped from mostly Android with little bit of Harmony to eventually just Harmony OS with Android VM on top." Now "only claims to have about 20,000 native apps"—app gap "will likely be Huawei's biggest software challenge going forward." The government fab ownership revelation at 17:32 confirms state support: "According to the elect, Chinese government actually owns shares of these companies and presumably just lets Huawei use them"—"Shenzhen city government founded Sai Carrier, massive chip equipment maker now worth $15 billion reportedly to supply Huawei with all manufacturing equipment they need"—"on top of 20 plus% R&D spending Huawei itself has, Chinese government also just throwing money at them." Strategic lesson: half-enforced sanctions plus lobbying carve-outs plus unlimited state financial support enables sanctioned company survival—US "chopped few heads off hydra but got bored halfway through job, own lobbyists convinced them to keep feeding remaining heads for quick buck." 5 Key Timestamps: [04:15] The Qualcomm Lobbying Loophole – Qualcomm lobbied US to sell Snapdragon chips to Huawei with only 4G enabled—also got Windows licenses, Intel AMD chips for laptops [06:19] The $15B Honor Government Cash Injection – Honor subbrand making 70M phones spun off for $15B cash injection—controlled by state-owned Shenzhen government commission, direct government transfusion [07:52] The 25% R&D Spending Spike – Before ban 15% already higher than competitors—after ban peaked at bonkers 25%, plus Chinese government hands over chip R&D directly [11:32] The Harmony OS Android Flip – System slowly flipped from mostly Android with bit of Harmony to just Harmony OS with Android VM—only 20K native apps [17:32] The Government Fab Ownership Revelation – Chinese government owns fab shares, lets Huawei use them—Shenzhen founded $15B Sai Carrier to supply manufacturing equipment, government throwing money
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