China’s No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker was bought to its knees in April when the United States banned American firms from selling it parts, saying the company broke an agreement to discipline executives who had conspired to evade US sanctions on Iran and North Korea.
The ban, which became a source of friction in Sino-US trade talks, was lifted in July after ZTE paid $1.4 billion in penalties, allowing the firm to resume business.
“As of today, the main operating business has resumed completely. The production mission for August has resumed to normal and R&D is resuming rapidly”, the Securities Times newspaper quoted Chairman Li Zixue as saying at a shareholder meeting at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen on Tuesday.
As part of the settlement deal with Washington, ZTE, which relies on US suppliers for core components, also overhauled its management team and appointed a new chief executive and chairman.
“We can definitely say the company is still in the front line in the communications industry”, CEO Xu Ziyang said at the meeting.