The Washington-led pressure campaign has contributed to Huawei losing its top spot in the smartphone market and has throttled its supply chains.
After Huawei's Friday announcement that its 2022 net profits had plunged 69 percent compared to the previous year, Meng struck a defiant tone at a press conference.
"We might not be successful in the end, but being placed in a fatal impasse, we have no choice but to go all in and fight, with all hands on deck," she said.
The 51-year-old is not new to being on the front line of the US-China tech war.
In 2018, she was arrested in Canada at the behest of the United States on fraud charges relating to her alleged efforts to hide violations of US sanctions on Iran involving Huawei affiliate Skycom.
She remained under house arrest in Vancouver for almost three years while fighting extradition, with the case becoming a major thorn in relations between the three countries.
She was allowed to return to China in September 2021, and in December 2022, the US Justice Department dropped all charges against her.
- Huawei under pressure -
Huawei has been repeatedly targeted by Washington in recent years over cybersecurity and espionage concerns.
The administration of former president Donald Trump effectively barred US companies from doing business with the firm, and his successor Joe Biden has slapped on further sanctions, including a ban on sales of new Huawei equipment in the United States.
Washington has also put controls on the export of sophisticated computer components and chip fabrication equipment to Huawei and other Chinese companies.
Huawei says it has replaced thousands of product components banned for export by the United States with homegrown versions, but it still relies on US chips for many of its 4G smartphones and consumer gadgets.
Consequently, the company is looking to expand its lines of business and develop new supply chains.
Meng on Friday identified Huawei's cloud business as a key area of growth.
It is also looking into building telecom infrastructure for solar farms and makers of driverless cars, and investing heavily in Africa and emerging economies in South and Southeast Asia.
- 'Humble' beginning -
Despite being internally known as Huawei's "princess", Meng is said to be approachable and self-deprecating.
According to Chinese media, she started off as a secretary at Huawei and kept her head down for years, to such an extent that few knew her father was founder Ren Zhengfei.
This may have been aided by the fact that she took her mother's surname from a young age, for reasons that remain unclear.
Ren, a former army engineer, founded Huawei with a few thousand dollars in 1987, growing it into one of the world's leading suppliers of hardware for telecommunications networks.
"He is a CEO at work, and a father at home," Meng once said, to emphasise that competence, not connections, determined one's path at Huawei.
Huawei credits Meng for reorganising the company's financial and IT architecture, beginning in the early 2000s, so that the company could cope with its rapid global growth.
Meng herself recounted how initially, she and other bookkeepers had to bind the company's financial records by hand each month, according to a readout of a speech she gave at her former high school last year.
Meng will lead the company for six months until September 30.
Huawei, which is not publicly listed, has two other rotating chairs -- Eric Xu and Ken Hu.
Meng said Friday that the company's future, as it navigates one of its roughest patches yet, would depend on its "collective leadership".
"In times of pressure, we press on -- with confidence," she said.
Huawei reports huge drop in profits; Meng appointed chair
Shenzhen, China (AFP) March 31, 2023 -
Huawei posted a massive drop in 2022 profits on Friday, as the company battered by US sanctions appointed its CEO's daughter to be its rotating chair.
A leading supplier of telecom gear, smartphones and other advanced equipment, a US-led pressure campaign in recent years has taken a major chunk out of Huawei's businesses.
And after posting record profits for 2021, the firm Friday reported 35.6 billion yuan ($5.2 billion) in net profits in 2022 -- a fall of 68.7 percent year-on-year.
"In 2022, a challenging external environment and non-market factors continued to take a toll on Huawei's operations", the company's outgoing rotating chairman Eric Xu said at its annual report press conference.
"In the midst of this storm, we kept racing ahead, doing everything in our power to maintain business continuity and serve our customers," he said.
"We also went to great lengths to grow the harvest -- generating a steady stream of revenue to sustain our survival and lay the groundwork for future development," he added.
Taking over as chair -- a role that lasts six months -- is Meng Wanzhou, daughter of billionaire CEO and founder Ren Zhengfei.
"In accordance with Huawei's rotating chair system, Ms. Sabrina Meng will assume the position of rotating and acting chair of Huawei from April 1, 2023 to September 30, 2023," Huawei said in a statement, referring to Meng by her English name.
"During her term, Ms. Meng will serve in the company's top leadership position and head the board of directors and its executive committee, " it added.
Meng was Huawei's chief financial officer when she was arrested in Vancouver in December 2018 in a case that became a major thorn in relations between China and both the United States and Canada.
The United States had sought her arrest for wire fraud and deceiving HSBC bank, relating to her alleged efforts to hide violations of US sanctions on Iran by Huawei affiliate Skycom.
And during the same period that Meng was held under house arrest, Washington intensified a campaign against the use of Huawei equipment in the United States and allies, saying it posed deep security threats.
Meanwhile China arrested and held two Canadians -- former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor -- forcing talks on what became labeled "hostage diplomacy."
Meng returned home in September 2021 shortly after the two Canadians were released from prison in China, after lengthy negotions between Beijing and Ottawa.
- Dimming fortunes -
Since then Huawei's fortunes have dimmed further.
The firm was hammered during a crackdown by the administration of previous US president Donald Trump over cybersecurity and espionage concerns.
His successor Joe Biden has added to that pressure with regulations that threaten Huawei's access to global semiconductor supply chains.
Its 5G gear has been blocked in major markets including the United States, Britain and Japan over security concerns. Huawei has denied allegations that its equipment carries risks of sabotage and spying.
And the company -- once the world's top smartphone maker -- has seen sales slump after the United States cut off access to key parts and also barred it from using Google's Android operating system.
Huawei has moved to diversify revenue streams in the face of that pressure, moving into the cloud computing sector with an aim to invest in data centres around the world and also focused on offering consumer tech such as smartwatches in addition to phones.
The firm has also boosted its footprint in the auto sector as a supplier.
The company did not provide details about its net profit or a breakdown of figures from its various divisions.
Huawei is not publicly listed and its accounts are not subject to the same audits as companies traded on the stock market.
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