SoC - technical definition

(System On a Chip) The electronics for a complete, working product contained on a single chip. While a microcontroller includes all the hardware components required to process instructions, an SoC includes the computer and all required ancillary electronics. For example, an SoC for a telecom application might contain a microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), RAM and ROM. It might also include a graphics processor. The more functions contained within the chip, the more systems can be miniaturized for handheld use with an ancillary reduction in power. See SiP and SOCcentral.com.