System on a Chip (SoC) is an integrated chip that holds all or most components of an electronic or a computer system on a single substrate, mainly silicone. These components usually include a central processing unit (CPU), memory, input/output ports, external interfaces (e.g., USB, Ethernet, HDMI, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth), a graphical processing unit (GPU) and secondary storage. Compared to a regular system that comprises of several chips, SoC consumes much less power and takes up less area.
SoCs are used in smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, video game consoles, embedded systems, IoT devices and other small electronic devices. In recent years, computer manufacturers have used SoCs also in personal computers, especially laptops.
