One name came up again and again at the latest Beijing Auto Show. Without building a car on its own, Huawei Technologies has become one of the most influential players in the world’s largest automotive market.
The venue was packed with electric and self-driving vehicles little known outside China. Among them was the Harmony Intelligent Mobility Alliance, or HIMA, a Huawei-led umbrella organization for five car brands.
The Stelato brand’s S9T station wagon starts at RMB 319,800 (USD 46,967.2). Other HIMA brands such as Aito and Luxeed were also represented among the more than 15 models at the booth.
The alliance’s sales jumped 32% last year to 580,000 vehicles, a standout performance in a market where observers have noted slowing growth.
HIMA is also notable for how it operates. Product planning, design, and sales are all handled by Huawei.
“Our partner BAIC Group mainly provides the factories,” a representative said. “Huawei is responsible for everything from quality management, onboard systems, and electronic controls to body design and chassis tuning.”
Telecommunications-focused Huawei first set its sights on the automotive sector around 15 years ago. As connected cars and autonomous driving emerged, the company’s peers sought to apply their technologies to mobility.
Later on, Huawei’s struggles would bring it to a unique position.
In the mid-2010s, rising tensions between Washington and Beijing led to Huawei products being shut out of the US and other markets. This was followed by a de facto ban on US semiconductor exports to China, which a Huawei executive said in a 2022 interview helped spur the company toward the auto industry.
“Smartphone shipments number in the hundreds of millions, but for automotive products, shipments are in the millions,” the executive said. “We can handle that with our stock of [semiconductor] inventories.”
More than four years on from that interview, Huawei has grown its automotive business around three pillars. It supplies parts, like Japan’s Denso or Germany’s Bosch. It also provides self-driving and other systems, with “Huawei Inside” branding, and it designs and sells cars through HIMA.
The company’s parts and software sales grew 72% in 2025 to RMB 45 billion (USD 6.6 billion).
Andrew Bergbaum, managing director of the US consultancy AlixPartners, describes Huawei as a “tier-0.5” automotive company that goes beyond a traditional tier-one supplier but falls short of an automaker. In other words, Huawei does everything short of building cars itself.
Huawei serves as a lifeline for state-owned automakers and midsize car brands that have been left at a disadvantage against powerhouses like BYD, industry executives and analysts at the car show said.
Seres Group, the automaker behind the Aito marque, owes its fortunes to its partnership with Huawei. In 2022, Seres sold fewer than 270,000 vehicles and suffered a net loss of RMB 3.8 billion (USD 558.1 million) that year. But by 2025, the company had roared to sales of 510,000 vehicles and a net profit of RMB 5.9 billion (USD 866.5 million).
Although Huawei’s presence is a boon for smaller automakers, a different picture emerges for the sector as a whole. The safety net that Huawei provides may be perpetuating what critics say is excess capacity and competition.
Last year, 23 brands entered the market for EVs and other new energy vehicles, but only nine withdrew, according to AlixPartners.
As Huawei expands its range of products and services, rivals are emerging in each of those fields. For autonomous driving software, the startup Momenta is partnering with companies such as Toyota Motor.
In semiconductors, Horizon Robotics is experiencing remarkable growth. The company holding the second largest global market share in system-on-chip solutions used for autonomous driving, ranking behind only Mobileye.
Huawei continues to invest heavily in R&D, allocating about 20% of its revenue to that area. Rivals respect its technology but are trying to set themselves apart.
“We work closely with our corporate clients to address their specific needs with an attention detail,” said an executive at a competitor.
This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.
Note: RMB figures are converted to USD at rates of RMB 6.81 = USD 1 based on estimates as of May 13, 2026, unless otherwise stated. USD conversions are presented for ease of reference and may not fully match prevailing exchange rates.