Huawei Leads Base Station Equipment Despite US Sanctions... Samsung Also Expands Market Share

[Asia Economy Reporter Joeslgina] Despite facing strong sanctions from the U.S. government, Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei maintains its position as the global leader in the base station market. This year, alongside the existing Huawei-Ericsson-Nokia trio, Samsung Electronics is also expected to increase its market share to the 12% range.

According to market research firm TrendForce on the 28th (local time), the combined market share of the three companies?China's Huawei, Sweden's Ericsson, and Finland's Nokia?in the global base station equipment market this year is estimated at 73%. By company, Huawei holds 30%, Ericsson 23%, and Nokia 20%.

Huawei retained its top position despite being blacklisted due to U.S. government sanctions. Its market share is expected to slightly increase from 29% last year. This is interpreted as a result of the strong growth of the Chinese 5G market.

TrendForce stated, "Due to the impact of the U.S.-China trade war, both Huawei and China's three major mobile carriers are prohibited from investment-related activities with U.S. companies," adding, "As a result, Huawei has shifted its base station infrastructure business to the domestic Chinese market."

As of the end of 2020, the number of 5G users in China surpassed 160 million, accounting for about 89% of global users. As of July, China's three major carriers?China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom?have built 916,000 5G base stations domestically. This represents 70% of all 5G base stations worldwide. TrendForce evaluated this as "not only demonstrating the enormous scale of the Chinese telecommunications market but also the key factor enabling Huawei to maintain leadership in the base station market."

Samsung Electronics is also expected to expand its market share to 12.5%, leveraging relatively lower costs and 5G technology. Last year's share was 9%. TrendForce explained, "Samsung Electronics has supply contracts not only with Korea's three major carriers but also with Japan's NTT Docomo, and collaborates with U.S. companies such as AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon."

Ericsson and Nokia are still projected to maintain the second and third positions in market share, respectively. However, their shares are expected to decrease by 3 percentage points and 1.5 percentage points compared to the previous year. China's ZTE is also forecasted to slightly shrink from 4.5% last year to 3.5% this year.