China's top market watchdog has imposed a total fine of 2.5 million yuan (about 387,200 U.S. dollars) on three auto-chip dealers for price gouging.

It was found that the three companies, including two in Shanghai and one in Shenzhen, sold auto chips at a substantial markup, in some cases up to 40 times the purchase price.

In a market with balanced supply and demand, the markup rate of auto-chip traders is normally between 7 percent and 10 percent.

Automotive chips are an important component in the auto industry. In the first half of the year, a serious shortage of global auto-chip supply triggered a supply-demand imbalance in the domestic market.

In August, China's State Administration For Market Regulation launched an investigation into auto-chip dealers over suspicions of price gouging, to address issues including price hyping in the market.

Enterprises are required to follow pricing principles of fairness, legality, authenticity and trustworthiness, and to set reasonable prices. The pricing behavior of enterprises is monitored by the market regulator.