Intel lets Rockchip design Atom soc for tablets

Intel is going to let the Chinese processor maker Rockchip make an Atom soc for cheap tablets. With the collaboration, Intel probably wants to gain market share in the market for cheap tablets with Chinese processors, such as those from Rockchip and Allwinner.

The soc will be part of Intel’s SoFIA line of Atom socs for tablets and it will be a soc with four Atom processor cores and a 3G connection via a modem from Intel itself. Rockchip will be responsible for integrating and designing the soc, according to a statement from Intel. The soc should appear in the first half of 2015.

Both Intel and Rockchip will try to sell the soc to their customer base; Presumably, thanks to the collaboration, Intel wants to supply the processors more often for cheap Chinese tablets. Also established manufacturers such as HP and Lenovo belong to Rockchip’s customer base.

Intel is already making socs for tablets without Rockchip and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 includes an Intel soc. However, the vast majority of tablets still run on ARM processors. There is little further information about the agreement; for example, there is no view of how the manufacturers will distribute the profits.