How to Invest in Huawei Pre-IPO

Find out more about Huawei here -- if you can invest in it, when it might be publicly traded, if it's profitable, and other ways to gain exposure to the company.

What is Huawei?

Huawei is a major global conglomerate that manufactures telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics. It became the largest telecom equipment manufacturer in the world in 2012 and (briefly) the biggest manufacturer of smartphones in 2020. It's also a major player in the buildout of next-generation high-speed 5G networks.

The company has enjoyed steady growth since its 1987 founding by a former deputy director of the People’s Liberation Army engineering corps, boosted by an estimated $46 billion in support by the Chinese government. It became a leading provider of telecommunications networks in the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1990s, and its foreign sales topped domestic orders in 2005.

Although the Chinese-based company would appear attractive to investors who believe its reach and products will continue to grow, it's become problematic for a major reason. A law passed in 2017 requires it to provide intelligence to the Chinese government. As a result, it's been banned from doing business in several countries, including the United States, Australia, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

The U.S. has also prevented sales of the advanced chips necessary for 5G networks to the company, and several countries have chosen competitors such as Ericsson (ERIC -1.20%) or Nokia (NOK -1.34%) to build their 5G networks because of concerns over the potential for spying. Its smartphone business was launched in 2009 and passed Samsung (OTC:SSNL.F) as the world's top seller barely a decade later, but sanctions forced Huawei to sell off its smartphone business in November 2020.

Is Huawei publicly traded?

Huawei has described itself as an employee-owned company, although it was established as a collectively owned business, which in China represents an intermediate type of business between a private company and a state-owned enterprise. As such, it's not publicly traded.

When will Huawei IPO?

The company has been coy about a potential initial public offering (IPO). Although founder Ren Zhengfei had rejected the possibility of the company becoming publicly traded, he wrote in 2021 that Huawei could "gradually enter the market in the future."

There's been speculation that Huawei might surprise investors with an IPO. Ni Guangnan, a former Lenovo (LNVGY -2.48%) chief technology officer, estimated in 2019 that the company would be worth as much as $1.3 trillion -- more than the market capitalization of Apple (AAPL -1.69%) at the time. A note on the company's website, however, indicated that it isn't hurrying to become a publicly traded company: "Huawei is a private company wholly owned by its employees. No government or any third party holds shares in our company, intervenes in our operations, or influences our decision-making."

It’s worth noting that Honor, a Huawei spinoff that’s frequently surpassed Apple as the third-biggest smartphone company in China, is planning to go public within the next year.

How to buy Huawei stock

Since Huawei isn't publicly traded, you can't buy its stock unless you're an employee and eligible for its profit-sharing program. At this time, the only way to invest in Huawei is to buy its bonds. Since trade tensions rose with the United States, Huawei has gone to local sources to ride out a volatile economic picture; it raised $2.7 billion via ultra-short-term commercial paper in early 2025.

If and when the company makes its stock available to investors, however, it's likely to join the ranks of some of China's largest publicly traded companies, including Tencent (TCEHY -0.87%), Alibaba (BABA -0.61%), and PetroChina (PCCYF +3.03%).

In the meantime, investors seeking exposure to the same trends that Huawei is exploiting might consider buying stock in one or more of its major competitors:

Cisco

Cisco (CSCO -0.93%) is best known for its networking business, Cisco expanded its cybersecurity business in early 2024 with its acquisition of Splunk, making it one of the largest software companies in the world. Its move to acquire a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company is expected to shelter Cisco from its traditional reliance on the ups-and-downs of a fluctuating hardware market. Cisco also expects a deal with Nvidia (NVDA -1.45%) will boost its products tailored to artificial intelligence (AI) systems. The companies announced in early 2025 they would work together to simplify building AI-ready data center networks.

Ericsson

After seeing share prices of Ericsson fall 15% on tariff-related concerns in early 2025, investors might be forgiven if they're not keen on the Swedish telecom giant. But the company, which has shifted to producing 5G network infrastructure and cloud services., has a diversified base, with North America accounting for only about 30% of its 2024 revenue. Share prices had bounced back in mid-2025 as mobile companies began purchasing much-delayed 5G equipment from Ericsson.

Apple

It's generally not great news when Warren Buffett dumps your stock. Despite the Oracle of Omaha's sale of almost half of his Apple shares -- which had more to do with tax concerns than the tech giant’s financial outlook -- it still makes up about 30% of his portfolio for Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRK.B). Its latest iPhone upgrade was expected to boost an integral part of Apple's business, and it posted a record 46.9% gross margin in the first quarter of 2025.

Its strong free cash flow led the company to announce a record $110 billion share repurchase program in May 2024, then another $100 billion buyback in May 2025. Since its first buyback in 2012, the company has returned an estimated $945 billion to shareholders.

Here's how to invest in one of the three companies:

1. Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
2. Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock's trading page.
3. Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
4. Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you're willing to pay.
5. Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
6. Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.

Is Huawei profitable?

Although Huawei isn't required to publish its financial statements, the company provides relatively detailed information for a non-publicly traded company. Huawei's ICT (information and communications technology) segment accounted for 43% of its $120.2 billion in revenue last year, it represented only a 4.9% increase; Huawei's move into self-driving cars was responsible for a 474.4% year-over-year increase, rising to $3.7 billion.

The company's net profit figure fell sharply from 2023, dropping 28% to $8.6 billion. Its operating margin also plunged to 9.2%, down from 14.8%. Huawei, however, noted that it's spending more than 20% of its revenue on research and development (R&D), and more than half of its workforce is focused on future products.

Should I invest in Huawei?

Since Huawei isn't publicly traded, it's not possible to buy shares in it. And even if and when the company launches an IPO, investors would need to be aware of potential pitfalls. Because of concerns about the potential for Chinese spying, the company's growth for the foreseeable future may be limited to China, the Middle East, and Africa.

In addition, Huawei has been operating in an extremely competitive environment -- even before its venture into a self-driving car market that's been dominated by titans like Alphabet (GOOG +0.74%)(GOOGL +0.66%), Nvidia, and Tesla (TSLA -2.13%). All things considered, Huawei likely carries more risks than rewards for investors.

ETFs with exposure to Huawei

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) can be a safer investment than individual stocks since it's an asset that distributes risk across several assets. ETFs also tend to have lower fees than mutual funds and can be easier to buy and trade.

Since Huawei isn't publicly traded, it's not included in any ETFs. Investors who want exposure to the Chinese company, however, may benefit from putting money into funds that follow the same trends as Huawei. Since there's a broad array of ETFs, investors have multiple pathways, including ETFs that are focused on China, telecommunications, or 5G networks, among others. Here are three that might be worth considering:

Bottom line on Huawei

Weak consumer consumption and slowing property investment have caused problems for the Chinese economy, and a trade war with the United States isn't helping. Increasingly, China is viewed as a competitor rather than a customer. The economic woes of the world's second-most-populous country combined with suspicion over Huawei's motives make the company an extremely risky bet if and when the company goes public.

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