A modest recovery in personal computers this year is expected to slightly strengthen overall sales growth in microprocessors (MPU), according to IC Insights. Total MPU sales are forecast to rise 9% to a record US$66.7 billion in 2014 compared to US$61 billion in 2013, when revenues grew 8%.

　　Mobile processors in mobile phones and tablets continue to provide most of the lift in overall MPU sales, while other MPUs used in PCs, servers and embedded applications are forecast to pull out of a two-year slump and increase 3% in 2014 to US$42.5 billion, said IC Insights.

　　Handset application processor sales are forecast to grow 19% in 2014 to a record US$19.3 billion, while tablet processor sales are projected to climb 35% to a new all-time peak of US$4.9 billion, IC Insights indicated. Handset application processors will account for 29% of worldwide MPU sales in 2014, while tablet MPUs will reach 7% of the total.

　　MPUs used in standard PCs, servers, large computers and embedded applications are expected to represent 64% of total MPU sales in 2014, IC Insights noted. By 2018, handset application processors are expected to represent 33% of the total MPU sales, while tablet MPUs will be 9% and the large PC/server/embedded segment will shrink to 58%, IC Insights said.

　　Revenues for MPUs in PCs, servers, large computers and embedded systems fell 2% in 2013 after dropping 6% in 2012, IC Insights disclosed. These back-to-back declines were partly a result of PCs being superseded by tablet and smartphone sales, but also due to cutbacks in IT spending by businesses while economic growth waffled in the past two years. In 2013, shipments of PCs built with x86 MPUs from Intel and AMD suffered the worst decline ever, falling by about 9% to 315 million units worldwide, according to IC Insights.

　　A projected 2% increase in PC unit sales in 2014, along with improved IT spending by businesses and stronger growth in embedded-processor applications, will enable the PC/server/embedded MPU market segment to grow again, but it will not set a new record high until 2015 when revenues are forecast to grow 6% to US$45.2 billion, IC Insights noted. This large MPU market segment will increase by a CAGR of 4.0% between 2013 and 2018, reaching US$50.1 billion in the final year of the forecast.

　　Meanwhile, sales of handset application MPUs (which exclude baseband processors used in wireless modems) are expected to grow by a CAGR of 12.5% in the five-year forecast period, climbing to US$29.1 billion in 2018, while tablet processor sales will rise by a CAGR of 16.1%, reaching US$7.7 billion in 2018, IC Insights said. Total MPU sales are projected to rise by an annual rate of 7.4% in the forecast period to US$87 billion in 2018, according to IC Insights.