General purpose processing poised for growth: IMS

According to a recent study from IMS Research, the world market for general purpose 16/32/64-bit microcontrollers, non-compute processors, and DSPs is forecast to grow from $9.5 billion in 2002, to almost $16 billion in 2007, a CAGR of 11 percent.
"General purpose processors didn't benefit from the hype and glamour of the Dot Com years in the way of, say, network processors," commented senior analyst and report author Colin Barnden. "However in the famine that has followed the feast, their ubiquitous nature has proved their biggest strength; the problems which beset the communications and computer industries over the last two years have been off-set by steady growth in industrial and consumer and strong growth in automotive."