Chinese equipment maker ZTE announced a 12.9% rise in its 2021 full-year annual revenue to RMB114 billion (US$18 billion), reporting year-on-year growth across its arms.
ZTE said in a statement, 2021 was crucial to its growth, as net profit also surged 59.9% to RMB6.8 billion amongst other rising key financial indicators such as operating revenue, and net cash flow hitting record company highs.
The Chinese vendor detailed that it built stronger core competencies to strengthen R&D investment in key areas such as core underlying technology and 5G digitisation. R&D investment reached RMB 18.8 billion in the year, which is equivalent to 16.4% of revenue, and rose 1.8% on 2020.
Rising segments
Its three core businesses operator network, government and enterprise, and consumer businesses all achieved year-on-year growth. Operating revenue in China was RMB78.1 billion which is up 14.7%, accounting for 68.2% of overall revenue. Intentional revenue was RMB 36.5 billion, an increase of 9.1% equating to 31.8% of takings.
A bright spot was its government and enterprise business which saw a 16% increase to operating revenue to RMB13.1 billion. ZTE said it “seized market opportunities” in new infrastructure construction, industrial digital transformation and dual-carbon economy.
Looking forward, the company is looking to maintain technology leadership by investing in chipsets, algorithms and network architecture.