Ericsson, Nokia trimmed 20000 jobs in 2 years as Huawei surged in 5G field

A new report says that Ericsson and Nokia have cut down around 20000 jobs in just two years, following the growth of Huawei in the 5G field. Amid the chaos of removing Chinese tech from the US hubs, Huawei gained ground in the 5G market.

LightReading revealed that Ericsson and Nokia have snipped nearly 1/10th (20000) jobs worldwide in just a couple of years as Huawei 5G tech continued to grow.

Some other US network telcos like Parallel Wireless, Altiostar, and 1&1 in Germany also faced the same situation, failing to win much business outside their circle.

Samsung – the world’s fifth-biggest RAN vendor also transferred 700 of 4K employees of the Samsung Networks division to other parts of the group last year in June. The company fell by 25% in terms of network revenues in 2024.

Talking about Ericsson, the company began removing jobs in 2023. It has cut down around 12% of all positions since 2023 and is left with 93000 work force in March 2024. Hereafter, the firm decided to invest in R&D and jumped from 37 to 45% in revenues.

Nokia, on the other hand, also faced certain business losses as it shifted its focus to cost-saving efforts on devices, leaving its network infrastructure. As a result, the employee figure fell from 84,795 in 2023 to 75600 in 2024.

The Finnish company is also looking to invest in R&D, but is not spending much in the respective sector, like Ericsson.

Ericsson, Nokia trimmed 20000 jobs in 2 years as Huawei surged in 5G field (Image Credits: LightReading)

Although the case is completely different for Huawei. While Ericsson and Nokia have cut down 20000 jobs, the Chinese tech giant has added 33000 R&D roles in two years, or since it came under the U.S. sanctions chain.

Huawei even added 1000 employees, increasing the figure to 208000 in total. At present, the company has 11000 more employees than in 2020, when the annual sales were at their highest ever. Looks like the OEM has given a response to the US sanctions by investing in R&D.

Speaking of the R&D section, the company currently has 113000 in R&D (80000 in 2018). Analysts believe that Huawei products have not seen a decline in quality since the US sanctions. Perhaps the ban had a limited visible impact on the company.

(source)