Shares of QuickLogic Corp., a designer that makes customizable semiconductors for tablet computers, smartbooks and other mobile products, rose the most since December on speculation its products will win broader favor with top-tier manufacturers.

QuickLogic shares climbed as much as 14 percent to $3.10 in New York. The stock, which dropped 59 percent last year, had climbed about 5 percent this year before Monday.

“It’s the promise of being inside tablets and smartphones, the company needs to get inside new phones and tablets,” Hamed Khorsand, an analyst at BWS Financial Inc., said in a telephone interview. “Management stated there would be some sort of model and design win in the first half and people will be waiting for that announcement.”

QuickLogic technologies, designed to improve visual display and enhance battery life, are used in Kyocera Corp.’s Digno, an Android smartphone for the Japanese market, and Pantech Co.’s tablet phone released in South Korea.

“In addition to the Pantech Vega 5 and the Kyocera Digno, we expect the third smartphone design to move into production during the first half of 2012 that uses our ArcticLink II VX CSSP,” QuickLogic Chief Executive Officer Andrew Pease said during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings conference call Feb. 7.

CSSP stands for customer specific standard products, which help enable QuickLogic customers to bring their products to market more quickly, the company said.

“We have engagements with Tier 1 and Tier 2 smartphone and tablet manufacturers, who are very interested in our recently announced ArcticLink III VX family,” Pease said on the call. “These include tablet manufacturers who provided us with their technical information.”

Projector Market

The Sunnyvale, California-based company also won “two designs with two customers in the Pico projector market,” with one customer initiating a production order scheduled for shipment at the end of the first quarter, Pease said. The second customer is a large manufacturer Pease didn’t identify.

“They are in Kyocera and Pantech, but it’s all non-U.S.,” Khorsand said. “They are looking for any kind of win.”

Khorsand has a buy rating on the stock with a target of $5.50 a share.

QuickLogic was founded in 1988 and has been listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market since 1999.