(Yicai Global) Nov. 10 -- Shares of Sai MicroElectronics plunged after the German government banned the Chinese semiconductor company from purchasing the automotive chip assets of Germany’s Elmos Semiconductor.

Sai MicroElectronics [SHE: 300456] was trading down 6.9 percent at CNY16.08 (USD2.22) as of 1.30 p.m. today, giving it a market value of CNY11.8 billion (USD1.6 billion).

The German government issued a document to stop the acquisition of automotive chip production assets of Elmos by Sai MicroElectronics’ Swedish subsidiary Silex Microsystems, the Beijing-based developer of micro-electromechanical system chip techniques and manufacturing wafers announced today.

In December last year, Silex announced it would pay EUR84.5 million (USD84.8 million) to buy Elmos’ assets in Dortmund. The following month, it submitted a foreign direct investment application to Germany’s Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action.

Sai MicroElectronics will continue to pay attention to the automotive chip industry and related businesses, it noted.

Sai MicroElectronics reported CNY555 million (USD76.6 million) in operating revenue in the first three quarters, down 13 percent from a year earlier. Net profit shrank 98 percent to CNY1.6 million (USD220,680), mainly because the depreciation of the Swedish krona against the Chinese yuan and the higher operating costs at the firm’s MEMS production line in Sweden.

The krona depreciated as much as 11 percent against the Chinese yuan so far this year.

In the three months ended Sept. 30, Sai MicroElectronics logged a net loss of CNY6.7 million, versus a net profit of CNY18.7 million (USD2.6 million) a year ago.

Sai MicroElectronics’ Swedish MEMS production line contributed 90 percent to its MEMS business operating revenue, which in turn accounted for over 90 percent of the total revenue. The Beijing production line made the remaining 10 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione