Total microprocessor market to rise by 8% in 2013, as per IC Insights

IC Insights has forecasted the total sales of microprocessor chips in year 2013 to increase by 8% to reach $61.0 billion. The growth is mainly driven by demand in processor chips for tablet computers and smartphones. There is no great demand for processor chips in personal computers and notebook computers. The x86 microprocessors supplied by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices to hold a share of 56% of total microprocessor units sold in 2013, a drop of 2% compared to year 2012. The figure below shows embedded microprocessors are now expected to account for 11% of MPU sales in 2013 (versus 9% previously), while tablet processors are projected to be 6% of the total (compared to 5% in the original January forecast), according to IC Insights. The new forecast by IC Insights keeps cellphone application processors at 26% of total MPU sales in 2013 but lowers the market share of non-x86 central processing units (CPUs) in computers outside of tablets to 1% (from 2% previously). The processor IP vendor ARM's market share growth continue to rise in the processor market, particularly in the tablet and cell phone domain.
The new mid-year forecast from IC insight has rised tablet processor sales in 2013 to nearly $3.5 billion, which is a 54% increase from $2.3 billion in 2...