An Intel executive said Tuesday that the company has completed efforts to port Google’s Android to the x86 instruction set architecture (ISA).
Speaking to the IDG News Service, Intel exec Renee James said in aside at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing that Intel already has Android running on several Atom-based smartphone designs.
The move to port Android to x86 is a bid to widen the influence of an Atom SoC designed for mobile use, codenamed Moorestown. Introduced at CES 2010, Intel has struggled to gather design wins for the tiny chip in the face of competing designs based on the ARM architecture, which has spawned luminaries like the Cortex-A8 (Motorola Droid), Snapdragon QSD8250 (HTC Nexus One) or the P.A. Semi A4 (Apple iPad).
Though Moorestown is purpose-built for mobile applications, hardware designers have been resistant to adopt it due the overwhelming incumbency of ARM chips, which account for more than 90% of all smartphones shipped as of 2009. Nevertheless, Moorestown has been lauded by analysts for its low power, high performance and compatibility with a wide array of form factors.
It is evident from the maneuver to port Android that Intel hopes to get a slice of the growing Android market, which has proven quite progressive in its adoption of new and powerful mobile processor designs.
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