Intel has created a new division for their system-on-chip design and architecture. The group is led by Gadi Singer, an old Intel fellow that has been involved in many high-profile projects inside the company. Singer's appointment comes in a moment when Intel is speeding up the development of their System-on-Chip (SoC) architecture for their multi-core PC processor line.

"Every major element being developed going forward will be done in a way that makes it reusable", said Singer who has at various times led efforts on Pentium, Itanium and cellular processors and been head of design automation software at Intel. "We are defining practices, flows and architectures that will allow plug-and-play across all Intel products", he said about the new group.

The company refused to disclose any other operative details, such as headcount or budget, but the group will focus on defining interconnects and test standards for silicon blocks and system-in-package devices.

"Developing something that is highly modular requires more effort which sometimes conflicts with other goals for a project so we do get some push back, but this extra effort is a very worthwhile investment", said Singer. "Going forward having SoC capabilities will be part of our competitiveness", he added.

Intel has stated it has at least four SoCs in the works for systems outside its traditional PC markets. Tolapai is aimed at storage networks, Silverthorne at handhelds, Larabee at high-end visualization systems and Canmore at wired consumer devices. Each chip could be just the tip of a bigger iceberg.

General manager of Intel's consumer electronics group, Bill Leszinske joined the group in 2005 and since then, his team took care of the XScale-based CPU for set-top boxes now used by Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan. Now, he is focusing towards the x86-based Canmore as well as on designing a two-chip version of Tolapai to be used in printers. "We have long multi-year road maps that include what IP we have or are developing and where we will work with partners [on IP]", said Leszinske.