Huawei’s profits have surged more than six-fold after the Chinese technology champion overcame Western sanctions to steal market share from Apple. The Shenzhen-based company reported a 19.6bn yuan (£2.1bn) profit in the three months to March, up 564pc on the same period a year ago. This comes despite facing US export controls and bans on overseas sales of its networking equipment in the last year, including in the UK. The company released a new high-end smartphone in August that was made largely with home-grown microchips. This proved to be a surprise hit among Chinese consumers and helped Huawei squeeze sales of Apple’s iPhone in the Far East. It has also been developing advanced artificial intelligence chips in an attempt to compete with Silicon Valley giant Nvidia, which has seen its sales to China curbed by the Biden administration. China has invested heavily in catching up to the US and Taiwan in advanced semiconductor production, reaping rewards for companies like Huawei that have struggled to get hold of foreign-made chips. Huawei said revenues had risen by 37pc in the quarter to 178.5bn yuan. The sales came in the critical Chinese New Year period when shoppers typically spend heavily on electronics. This...