China’s largest telecoms equipment maker, Huawei, saw earnings rebound strongly last year, as sales rose 8 per cent to 220.2 billion yuan (€26.6 billion). Net income was up 33 per cent at 15.4 billion yuan (€1.86 billion) during the period.

The Shenzhen-based group is China’s largest information and communications technology solutions provider and the figures suggest it is in line to overtake Ericsson as the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker by sales.

The company expects global sales to increase by between 10 and 12 per cent this year, said chief financial officer Cathy Meng Wanzhou, who is the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei. In 2011, profit fell 53 per cent to 11.6 billion yuan (€1.4 billion).

Earlier this month, Huawei said it was doubling its Irish workforce with 50 new jobs. The group announced the opening of a new research and development centre across two sites in Dublin and Cork.

The group had invested 120 billion yuan (€14.5 billion) in RD over the past decade years, she said, around one quarter of this in the last year.

Mr Ren (68) set up Huawei in 1987 after retiring from the People’s Liberation Army in 1983. It is partially because of his military background that Huawei has been dogged by transparency and security concerns.

The US house intelligence committee in October recommended that local companies avoid equipment made by Huawei, citing concerns that the Chinese government could install malicious hardware or software in US networks.

The company has repeatedly rejected the claims while increasing transparency in financial disclosures and media events to allay those fears.

Huawei’s sales have risen as it adds smartphones, tablets and cloud-computing services, and benefits from investment in mobile-phone equipment in emerging markets, Ms Meng said.

About 70 per cent of Huawei’s revenue was generated from serving leading telecoms operators, including 45 of the world’s top 50.