ASMedia Technology's overall controller shipments are likely to top 100 million units in 2012, driven by orders for USB 3.0 host controllers and new contracts for USB 3.0 bridge controllers placed by major HDD vendors, according to company president Lin Che-wei.

In 2011, ASMedia shipped about 70 million controller chips with USB 3.0 controllers accounting for almost 50% of the total.

ASMedia will focus on products for USB 3.0-compatible peripherals, as well as Thunderbolt-compatible peripherals along with the launch of Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors, in the second half of 2012, said Lin. ASMedia is one of the few players capable of supplying controllers for Thunderbolt devices, Lin added.

ASMedia has joined larger peer Marvell Technology, with the launch of its PCIe to SATA 6Gb/s controllers for upcoming Thunderbolt systems.

Thanks to its growing presence in the PC peripheral market, shipments of ASMedia's USB 3.0 controllers will climb to around 40 million units in 2012, Lin indicated. The firm used to remain focused on the handset market, Lin added.

ASMedia reportedly has grabbed orders for USB 3.0 bridge controllers used in HDDs from Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba, according to industry sources.

As a subsidiary of Asustek Computer, ASMedia offers USB 3.0 host and device controllers, and PCI Express bridge controllers. ASMedia began listing on Taiwan's emerging stock market in mid-January.