TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After many years of struggling with supply chain issues and international sanctions, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei announced it will drastically scale back business operations in Taiwan.
On Friday (Feb. 10), Huawei shared a post saying that it would close down two of its three primary customer service centers in Taiwan. The Taipei center, located in the Syntrend department store, and the Taichung center, at the Showtime Live Wenxin shopping center, will both close their doors on March 12. A third service center in Kaohsiung will remain open, reported UDN.
Huawei has been under intense scrutiny in Taiwan and abroad for many years. Multiple national governments have banned the use of Huawei’s products due to the company’s suspected ties to China’s military.
Since 2020, the company’s distribution capacity in Taiwan has been severely limited. This was due primarily to Huawei factories labeling products bound for Taiwan with the designation “Taiwan, China.” The company refused to comply with regulations outlined by Taiwan’s National Communications Commission to address the issue.
Huawei’s products were subsequently banned from major distribution channels in the country. The company’s troubles have been compounded by legal restrictions on importing products to the U.S., and others which prevent U.S. companies from doing business with Huawei.
For the past two years, Huawei has suffered severe drops in annual revenue, reporting a 32% decrease year over year in late 2021. A further decrease of 19% year over year was reported in late 2022.
In late January, it was reported the Biden administration may be preparing to cut off Huawei's access to U.S. component suppliers entirely, in a move intended to restrict China's access to critical security technologies.
Although some Taiwanese customers expressed concern over Huawei’s diminishing presence in Taiwan, the company assured its customers that their customer service hotline will still be open to deal with product issues. There are also several computer and smartphone repair centers throughout Taiwan that are licensed to repair Huawei products, according to the company announcement.
