The Etab reference design is for a basic tablet and employs an aging processor. It calls for a 7-inch capacitive touch screen and is based on TI's Sitara AM335x chip with an 800MHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor. TI announced its first Cortex-A8 chip in 2006.

The $70 cost includes the chip, plastic casing, battery, screen, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and applies when the parts are bought in 100,000-unit quantities.

The reference design is aimed at hardware developers that want to build a custom tablet, or those building embedded hardware for enterprises, such as a bar-code scanners, biometrics devices and control panels.

The tablet design could also be used in the education sector, said Libo He, business development manager at TI.

The design will allow companies to build a tablet in as little as three months, TI and AllGo said.