Integrated circuit firms, including many listed in the Shanghai STAR-Market, posted a high growth rate of profit and business, thanks to booming demand for chips for consumer electronics and cars with intelligent features, the companies said on Thursday. Shanghai-based AMEC, the biggest semiconductor equipment vendor in the Chinese mainland, expected net profit in 2020 to hit 440 million to 520 million yuan (US$67.7 million to US$80 million), a growth of 133 percent to 176-percent from a year ago. AMEC offers core equipment for top chip makers such as SMIC. National Silicon Industry Group Co, another upstream firm, expected net profit to hit 77 million yuan to 92 million yuan in 2020. It would be the first year for the company, which provides silicon wafers, to be in the black after it got listed in the STAR Market last year.