Atom is a system on a chip (SoC) platform designed for

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s and

tablet computer A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...

s, launched by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

in 2012. It is a continuation of the partnership announced by Intel and

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

on September 13, 2011 to provide support for the Android operating system on Intel

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was intr ...

processors. This range competes with existing SoCs developed for the smartphone and tablet market from companies such as

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...

Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

, Qualcomm and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

. Unlike these companies, which use

ARM In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between th ...

-based CPUs designed from the beginning to consume very low power, Intel has adapted the x86-based

Intel Atom Intel Atom is the brand name for a line of IA-32 and x86-64 instruction set ultra-low-voltage processors by Intel Corporation designed to reduce electric consumption and power dissipation in comparison with ordinary processors of the Intel Co ...

line of CPU developed for low power usage in netbooks, to even lower power usage. Since April 2012, several manufacturers have released Intel Atom-based tablets and phones as well as using the SoCs as a basis for other small form factor devices (e.g. mini PCs and stick PCs). In April 2016, Intel announced a major restructuring, including the cancellation of the

SoFIA Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

platform. It was reported by many news outlets that Broxton was cancelled.

List of systems

Merrifield and Moorefield smartphone platforms

In Q1 2014, Intel launched its fully Android compatible smartphone platform ''Merrifield'' based on a 22 nm SoC. It was followed by its platform refresh Moorefield in Q4 2014.

Operating system support on Cloverview

While Penwell SoC supports, in addition to Microsoft Windows, both

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...

and Android operating systems, Intel has announced that it will not provide support for Linux on Cloverview family of Atom systems-on-a-chip. This announcement has caused strong negative reaction from open source proponents.Intel: ‘Clover Trail’ Atom Chips Will Support Linux, Android
TechWeek europe A few days later Intel issued a statement saying that it has “plans for another version of this platform directed at Linux/Android" The initial Clover Trail platform only supported Microsoft Windows (z27x0 series). The Clover Trail+ platform was later released targeting Google Android (z25x0 series). The last version of

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...

to support Cloverview is the Anniversary Edition (version 1607); newer versions cannot be installed.

New power states on Cloverview

Z2760 Cloverview has introduced two new power states: S0i1 and S0i3.Meet Clover Trail, Intel's chip for mid-range Windows 8 tablets and hybrids
PC World The S0i1 state is intended to be used when the display is on but the user does not actively interact with the device; it consumes power in mW range, and can be entered/left in microseconds. The S0i3 state is intended to be used when the device display is off; it consumes power in microwatt range, and can be entered/left in milliseconds. As a result, Intel claims longer standby battery life (up to three weeks for a typical tablet).

Roadmap

In May 2011, Intel announced an accelerated roadmap for Atom SoC. The 22 nm

Silvermont Silvermont is a microarchitecture for low-power Atom, Celeron and Pentium branded processors used in systems on a chip (SoCs) made by Intel. Silvermont forms the basis for a total of four SoC families: * ''Merrifield'' and ''Moorefield'' cons ...

microarchitecture was scheduled for 2013 release, and release of the

14 nm The 14 nm process refers to the MOSFET technology node that is the successor to the 22nm (or 20nm) node. The 14nm was so named by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS). Until about 2011, the node following 22nm was e ...

Airmont microarchitecture was scheduled for 2014. It has been reported that Silvermont-based Atom SoCs will be codenamed Tangier (Merrifield smartphones), Valleyview (Bay Trail tablets), will be available in single-, dual- and quad-core versions, and Valleyview will include Intel's 7th generation GPU, allowing for 4–7× improvement over existing Atom GPUs. Other upcoming Silvermont-based Atom SoCs include Rangeley and Avoton (part of Edisonville platform). Airmont-based Atom platforms will be codenamed Moorefield (smartphones) and Cherry Trail (tablets) using the Anniedale and Cherryview SoCs. Goldmont-based Atom platforms were to be codenamed Morganfield (smartphones) and Willow Trail (tablets) using the Broxton SoC. The Willow Trail SoC platform was cancelled in April 2016, as Broxton is limited to IoT devices.

Similar SoCs

Apple silicon Apple silicon is a series of system on a chip (SoC) and system in a package (SiP) processors designed by Apple Inc., mainly using the ARM architecture. It is the basis of most new Mac computers as well as iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple TV, ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

Exynos Exynos, formerly Hummingbird (), is a series of ARM-based system-on-chips developed by Samsung Electronics' System LSI division and manufactured by Samsung Foundry. It is a continuation of Samsung's earlier S3C, S5L and S5P line of SoCs. E ...

* Jaguar and Puma by

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...

* NovaThor by ST-Ericsson * OMAP by

* Qualcomm Snapdragon, Snapdragon by Qualcomm * Tegra by

* R-Car by Renesas * Dolphin by Telechips * Vortex86 by DMP Electronics

References

{{Single-board computer Intel products System on a chip