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NXP Semiconductors said today it generated about $70 million in sales from its NFC chips and secure elements in the fourth quarter of 2012, up 20% over the previous quarter and three times the chip maker’s NFC revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011.

NXP Semiconductors’ NFC chip revenue grew by about 30% in the third quarter, compared with the previous quarter, and sales approached $70 million, according to the Netherlands-based semiconductor supplier.

NXP Semiconductors said it had shipped 100 million NFC chips as of last month and confirmed it is supplying chips to eight of the top 10 smartphone makers.

NXP Semiconductors said that 200 smartphone and tablet models are in the pipeline carrying its NFC chips–with about 40% of them either already in production or “moving toward production over the (next) few quarters.”

NXP Semiconductors CEO Rick Clemmer said the chip maker has notched design wins for more than 130 handsets and tablets, giving it an “Intel-like” market share for the number of devices being designed with NFC chips.

NXP Semiconductors has announced it has design wins for more than 90 mobile phone models and tablets, a substantial increase from last quarter.

NXP Semiconductors' sharply lower forecast for NFC phone shipments for 2011 comes as little surprise to many, who point to delays in handset shipments and failure by many mobile operators to firm up their NFC business plans.

NXP Semiconductors, the largest supplier of NFC chips, has lowered its projection for total NFC phone shipments for 2011 to 40 million or less–substantially lower than the 70 million it had been projecting.

Co-creator of NFC with Sony, NXP's partnership with Google announced in late 2010 has given it a dominant position in shipments for NFC chips for Android phones.