Intel is exploring system-on-chip (SoC) designs–complex microchips that perform specialized tasks on top of general-purpose computations–to get a better toehold in new markets, particularly those for smart phones, netbooks, and other mobile Internet devices.

Among the SoC designs disclosed are ones featuring wireless radios capable of using several different communications standards and operating at high speeds, integrated graphics processors for mobile devices that are many times more efficient than those used in desktop machines, and built-in sensors that track critical conditions on a chip itself.