Huawei released its Annual Report 2021 on March 28, which reported a full-year revenue of RMB 636.8 billion, down 28.6% year-over-year, and a net profit of RMB 113.7 billion, up 75.9% year-over-year. According to the report, Huawei spent RMB 142.7 billion on R&D in 2021, a record high and accounting for 22.4% of its annual revenue. In the past decade, it has invested a total of RMB 845 billion in R&D. There are 107,000 R&D personnel, accounting for about 54.8% of the company's total workforce.
According to the report, Huawei has been among the largest patentees in the world. As of late 2021, it held more than 45,000 valid licensed patent families (more than 110,000) worldwide, with invention patents accounting for more than 90% of them. This put it first in the list of patents granted in 2021 by both SIPO and EPO, and fifth in the list of patents granted in 2021 by PTO.