The chip giant Intel is planning to invade embedded market with its x86 chips.

The company is manufacturing the chips to be used in devices ranging from consumer electronics to mobile phones. As per insiders, the company is busy developing more than 15 system-on-chips based on the x86 core found in Intel's Atom chip, which is targeted to mobile Internet devices and low-cost laptops.

Atom, the processor aims to increase performance and drop power consumption on the new chips. The new chips will include subsystems to accelerate applications for video decoding and security.

Also declared earlier, the company is working on an Atom successor codenamed Moorestown, due for release in 2009-2010 timeframe. The platform includes an SOC code-named Lincroft, based on a 45-nanometer Atom core.

The company also has under development chips based on the Atom core for set-top boxes, including Canmore, which will be released later this year, and Sodaville, due for launch next year.

The company has also announced eight system-on-chips for set-top boxes. The EP80579 chips, made using the Pentium M core, runs between 600MHz and 1.2GHz, integrates a memory controller, and consumes between 11 watts to 21 watts of power.

Lalit Yadav, ITVoir Network