File photo: VCG

BEIJING, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's integrated circuit (IC) industry maintained growth momentum despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic in the first half of this year (H1), according to the China Semiconductor Industry Association.

The industry's sales revenue totaled 353.9 billion yuan (about 51.37 billion U.S. dollars) in the January-June period, up 16.1 percent year on year, data from the association showed.

In breakdown, the design sector raked in 149.06 billion yuan in sales revenue with a year-on-year growth of 23.6 percent, accounting for 42.1 percent of the total in the IC industry.

Meanwhile, the sales revenue of the manufacturing and packaging sectors logged a year-on-year growth of 17.8 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.

According to the General Administration of Customs, the country's IC industry saw imports stand at 154.61 billion U.S. dollars in H1, up 12.2 percent year on year, while exports climbed 10.5 percent from one year earlier to 50.51 billion U.S. dollars.