Huawei has been named as one of the top 10 most valuable brands for the first time ever in the reputed Brand Finance Global 500 2020 report. The report estimates that Huawei’s brand value is now worth over USD$65 billion, which is up 4.5% year on year.
According to Brand Finance, the global transition to 5G connectivity beginning in 2019 saw fierce competition amongst technology companies. In this environment, Huawei successfully expanded into markets traditionally covered by Western providers, and despite some controversy in the US, the company made clear headway. Overall, the report notes that global consumers continue to hold the tech sector in high regard.
The recognition from Brand Finance follows Huawei overtaking Apple to become the world’s second bestselling smartphone brand in 2019, according to reports from Strategy Analytics, Counterpoint Research, and Canalys. Its smartphone business shipped 240 million units globally throughout 2019.
Huawei also remains the world’s leading maker of telecom networking equipment in addition to providing end-to-end solutions in computing and device technologies. The company is an active member of more than 400 standards organizations, industry alliances, and open source communities, and last year ranked fifth on the 2019 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard as one of the biggest investors in research and development worldwide.
This focus on innovation enabled Huawei to expand its solutions portfolio across enterprise and consumer segments in 2019. Dominance in the 5G space was bolstered by new AI capabilities and chipsets. Huawei brought many of these capabilities to the Middle East as a partner of choice to telecom operators, governments, and enterprises. Globally, more than 700 cities and 228 Fortune Global 500 companies have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner.