The market for integrated circuits for inclusion in MIDs is set to grow from $29 million in 2008 to $2.6 billion in 2012, with Texas Instruments and Qualcomm as leading suppliers of silicon, according to consultancy Forward Concepts (Tempe, Arizona).

Over the same period number of global MID shipments is set to grow from 305,000 in 2008 to 40 million in 2012, the consultancy predicted.

That market supports application processors, digital basebands, RF transceivers and power amplifiers, graphics and other coprocessors, imagers, touch-screen controllers, power management ICs and peripheral chips such as Wi-Fi, WiMax, GPS, Bluetooth and Mobile TV.

Although Apple's 3G iPhone marks a breakthrough in portable Internet access, user interaction and utility, Forward Concepts does not consider it to be a MID. According to Forward Concepts an MID requires a 4- to 6-inch screen with higher resolution (VGA), TV out and optional Mobile TV capabilities.

Meanwhile a lot of attention is paid to the flagship application and baseband processors used within both the iPhone and MIDs, which has been characterized as a battleground for Intel X86 against ARM-based chips.

Intel has more chance of success in a different class of device, the ultramobile PC, according to the consultancy, because x86 compatibility is important, and battery life expectations are similar to those of notebook computers.

Texas Instruments, with its OMAP application processor family and the largest market share of the stand-alone Smartphone applications processor market, is one of the two best-positioned non-X86 semiconductor vendors for supplying stand-alone applications processors for all classes of MIDs, Forward Concepts asserted. The other is Qualcomm with its SnapDragon application processor and the company's 3G wireless position, a must have feature for the MID market.