diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 36998300db..8ecc9f09bb 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -98,6 +98,44 @@ jobs:
       after_failure:
         - (cd tests && for exp in *.exp; do testbase=$(basename $exp .exp); echo -e "\nFAILURE $testbase"; diff -u $testbase.exp $testbase.out; done)
 
+    # unix coverage 32-bit
+    - stage: test
+      env: NAME="unix coverage 32-bit build and tests"
+      install:
+        - sudo apt-get install gcc-multilib libffi-dev:i386
+        - sudo apt-get install python3-pip
+        - sudo pip3 install setuptools
+        - sudo pip3 install pyelftools
+        - gcc --version
+        - python3 --version
+      script:
+        - make ${MAKEOPTS} -C mpy-cross
+        - make ${MAKEOPTS} -C ports/unix MICROPY_FORCE_32BIT=1 submodules
+        - make ${MAKEOPTS} -C ports/unix MICROPY_FORCE_32BIT=1 deplibs
+        - make ${MAKEOPTS} -C ports/unix MICROPY_FORCE_32BIT=1 coverage
+        # run the main test suite
+        - (cd tests && MICROPY_CPYTHON3=python3 MICROPY_MICROPYTHON=../ports/unix/micropython_coverage ./run-tests)
+        - (cd tests && MICROPY_CPYTHON3=python3 MICROPY_MICROPYTHON=../ports/unix/micropython_coverage ./run-tests -d thread)
+        - (cd tests && MICROPY_CPYTHON3=python3 MICROPY_MICROPYTHON=../ports/unix/micropython_coverage ./run-tests --emit native)
+        - (cd tests && MICROPY_CPYTHON3=python3 MICROPY_MICROPYTHON=../ports/unix/micropython_coverage ./run-tests --via-mpy --mpy-cross-flags='-mcache-lookup-bc -march=x86' -d basics float micropython)
+        - (cd tests && MICROPY_CPYTHON3=python3 MICROPY_MICROPYTHON=../ports/unix/micropython_coverage ./run-tests --via-mpy --emit native --mpy-cross-flags='-mcache-lookup-bc -march=x86' -d basics float micropython)
+        # test when input script comes from stdin
+        - cat tests/basics/0prelim.py | ports/unix/micropython_coverage | grep -q 'abc'
+        # test building native mpy modules
+        - make -C examples/natmod/features1 ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/features2 ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/btree ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/framebuf ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/uheapq ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/urandom ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/ure ARCH=x86
+        - make -C examples/natmod/uzlib ARCH=x86
+        # test importing .mpy generated by mpy_ld.py
+        - MICROPYPATH=examples/natmod/features2 ./ports/unix/micropython_coverage -m features2
+        - (cd tests && ./run-natmodtests.py --arch x86 extmod/{btree*,framebuf*,uheapq*,ure*,uzlib*}.py)
+      after_failure:
+        - (cd tests && for exp in *.exp; do testbase=$(basename $exp .exp); echo -e "\nFAILURE $testbase"; diff -u $testbase.exp $testbase.out; done)
+
     # standard unix port
     - stage: test
       env: NAME="unix port build and tests"