SHENZHEN -- Huawei, one of China's largest electronics OEMs, took its cellphone manufacturing group off the market, saying the world financial situation must first be resolved.

"Given the current global market conditions and prevailing economic uncertainty the interests of the company are best served by postponing the sale process," Huawei said in a press release.

Huawei was expected to get up to $2 billion for a majority stake in the division, which was being marketed reportedly to increase the company's transparency to overseas investors. (Huawei's founders have ties to China's military.)

Huawei outsources some handset product to Cal-Comp Electronics and Flextronics. It is unclear how the decision will impact those firms, as Huawei (pronounced "wah-way") supposedly planned to ramp its annual handset production to 50 million units.

The company said that it might renew the sales process if the economic problems resolve themselves.

The company's cellphone unit is expected to report net profits of $400 million on revenues of $3.5 billion this year, according to published reports.