It turns out that while Java byte code is very nice as a compiler target, it's horrible as an instruction set. Theres been quite a few experiments with hardware

It turns out that while Java byte code is very nice as a compiler target, it's horrible as an instruction set. Theres been quite a few experiments with hardware accelerated java byte code, and all of them turn out to be slower then just targeting a simpler instruction set. (Something that's been played out before in CISC vs RISC)