Microprocessor sales are expected to grow 12% to $65.3bn after only 5% growth in 2012 because of weakness in standard PCs, says IC Insights.
However, the microprocessor market will gain strength between 2013 and 2016 with modest growth returning in standard PCs made with x86 processors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices and much stronger demand continuing for MPUs used in tablet computers and smartphones.
Tablet processor sales are expected to grow 50% in 2013 to nearly $3.4bn from about $2.3bn in 2012, when revenues surged by 60%.
In the larger mainstream MPU group—which includes x86 microprocessors for standard PCs, servers, and a variety of embedded processors, sales are forecast to rise 5% in 2013 to $44.9bn from $42.6bn in 2012, when this market category declined by 5%.
This large MPU category will account for 69% of total microprocessor sales in 2013, while tablet processors are expected to represent 5% of the revenues, and cellphone application processors will be 26%.
With tablet and smartphone unit shipments increasing at strong annual rates (80% and 55% in 2012, respectively), microprocessors serving these mobile systems are greatly exceeding growth in total MPUs.
More than 95% of tablet and cellphone SoC processors are now built with microprocessor technology and cores from ARM, instead of the x86 microarchitecture that dominates desktop computers, portable notebook PCs, and servers.The market for tablet processors is forecast to increase by a CAGR of 22% between 2012 and 2017, while cellphone application processor sales are projected to rise by a CAGR of 24% and revenues for MPUs in PCs, servers, and embedded applications are expected to grow by an annual rate of 7% in the five-year period.
