HISILICON, Huawei Technologies’ in-house semiconductor and integrated circuit design company, has surpassed U.S. chip giant Qualcomm in terms of smartphone processor shipments in China for the first time amid coronavirus-linked disruptions that have hit most major players, according to a report.

In the first quarter of 2020, HiSilicon shipped 22.21 million smartphone processors, according to Chinese research firm CINNO’s latest monthly report on China’s semiconductor industry.

Although HiSilicon’s shipments only increased slightly from the 22.17 million units it shipped in the first quarter of last year, it was the only major company that did not see a year-on-year decline in the quarter, CINNO said in a summary of the report.

As a result, the Huawei unit’s market share surged from to 43.9 percent, from 36.5 percent during the same period last year, and beat Qualcomm for the first time to become China’s top smartphone processor supplier.

HiSilicon’s steady performance comes at a time when the Chinese smartphone industry is being battered by delayed product launches and dampened consumer sentiment linked to the coronavirus pandemic.

Smartphone shipments in the country slumped by 34.7 percent – more than a third – to 47.7 million units in the first quarter of 2020, according to a report released earlier this month by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

CINNO’s report showed that there was a similar plunge in processor shipments, with overall smartphone processor shipments in the country dropping by 44.5 percent in the first three months of 2020, compared to same period last year.

U.S.-based Qualcomm, the long-time market leader, fell to second place in the latest quarter with a year-on-year decline in its market share from 37.8 percent to 32.8 percent. (SD-Agencies)