NEC doubles production of USB 3.0 host controller

Coming off of CES 2010 in January the amount of USB 3.0 gear that was at the show and the number of computers that were coming with USB 3.0 ports was a clear sign that the industry was going to adopt the new faster standard in force. NEC has announced that it is set to double the number of USB 3.0 host controllers that it produces each month to meet industry demand.

NEC has been producing about a million host controllers and starting in April the firm will ramp that number up to two million units. The USB 3.0 host controller in question is the µPD720200 and it is used in computers and other consumer devices. The controller is based on the xHCI specifications from Intel.

NEC began mass production of the controller in 2009 and has so far shipped three million units over the last year and a half. NEC must expect a much great demand for the host controller to increase monthly production to number 2/3 of the amount it has shipped over the last year and a half.