Although Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei has been put on a trade blacklist by the U.S., its sales have been increasing.

Huawei's half-year revenue increased 23 percent due to domestic smartphone sales, Reuters reported Tuesday.

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“Revenue grew fast up through May,” Huawei Chairman Liang Hua told reporters at a briefing before warning of possible difficulties ahead.

“Given the foundation we laid in the first half of the year, we continue to see growth even after we were added to the entity list. That’s not to say we don’t have difficulties ahead. We do, and they may affect the pace of our growth in the short term,” Liang said.

The U.S. in May placed Huawei on its "Entity List" and officials have said the company's ties to the Chinese Communist Party could allow it to spy in places where its hardware is present. Huawei has denied spying allegations.

The firm's CEO Ren Zhengfei said last month that the blacklist could cost the company $30 billion in revenue and that its yearly revenue could be about $100 billion, around the same as its 2018 revenue.

Liang said Tuesday that the company is confident in its ability to handle the blacklist.

The company said its first-half revenue increased to 401.3 billion yuan ($58.28 billion), which would be faster than its 15 percent growth a year earlier, according to Reuters.

The company's smartphone shipments rose 24 percent to 118 million units.