(Yicai Global) Nov. 1 --.China’s semiconductor industry posted a mixed performance in the first three quarters as the consumer electronics sector experiences a downturn but demand from industrial fields such as new energy vehicles and photovoltaics surges.

Just over half of China’s integrated circuit firms saw their profit growth slow in the first three quarters from the same period last year, according to the earnings reports released by 151 listed companies so far. Eighty-seven of them logged an uptick in business revenue, and 55 out of the 87 achieved growth of more than 20 percent.

Weak demand for semiconductors in the consumer electronics sector is unlikely to improve until at least the end of the first quarter next year, industry insiders told Yicai Global. Rather, sales will be driven by the NEV and other industrial sectors in the next two quarters, they added.

“The electrification of automobiles has led to a great increase in the usage of semiconductor devices and the intelligentization of vehicles has boosted market demand for processors, storage devices, sensors and other chips,” a technologies, media and telecoms analyst told Yicai Global.

Wingtech Technology is a case in point in terms of the diverging fortunes of the sector. The Huangshi, northern Hubei province-based firm’s original design manufacturing business, which focusses on tablet computer and laptops, racked up losses of CNY404 million (USD55.3 million) in the first nine months, nearly half of which was incurred in the third quarter.

However, its semiconductor business achieved record profit in the three months ended Sept. 30 at CNY1 billion (USD137.3 million). This was propelled by unit Nexperia, which logged a 35 percent jump in net profit in the first three quarters year on year to CNY2.7 billion (USD375.2 million), while revenue soared 17 percent to CNY12 billion (USD1.6 billion). Nearly half of Nexperia’s revenue in the first six months came from automotive-grade chips.

And car chip designer Giantec Semiconductor Corp.’s net profit more than tripled from January to September to CNY258 million (USD35.3 million) while revenue soared 82.8 percent to CNY718 million (USD98.6 million). The Shanghai-based firm’s third-quarter net profit surged four-and-a-half-fold year on year to CNY110 million.

And the situation is only expected to improve as cars become smarter. Smart cars will use eight to 10 times more chips than traditional autos, the analyst said.

“Due to the relatively long development cycle for cars, we predict that it will take another one to three years for the growing demand for chips to be reflected in the profits of semiconductor companies,” he added.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor