Microprocessor Chronology
Encyclopedia
1970s
In the 1970s the microprocessors are mostly 8-bit8-bit
The first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor was the Intel 8080, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s, often running the CP/M operating system. The Zilog Z80 and the Motorola 6800 were also used in similar computers...
and manufactured with the NMOS
NMOS logic
N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits...
technology.
| Date | Name | Developer | Max clock (first version) Clock rate The clock rate typically refers to the frequency that a CPU is running at.For example, a crystal oscillator frequency reference typically is synonymous with a fixed sinusoidal waveform, a clock rate is that frequency reference translated by electronic circuitry into a corresponding square wave... |
Word size (bits) |
Process | Transistor Transistor A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current... s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | PPS-25 | Fairchild Fairchild Semiconductor Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing... |
400 kHz | 4 | Multi-chip, pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1971 | 4004 Intel 4004 The Intel 4004 was a 4-bit central processing unit released by Intel Corporation in 1971. It was the first complete CPU on one chip, and also the first commercially available microprocessor... |
Intel | 740 kHz | 4 | 10 µm | 2,250 pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1972 | 8008 Intel 8008 The Intel 8008 was an early byte-oriented microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel and introduced in April 1972. It was an 8-bit CPU with an external 14-bit address bus that could address 16KB of memory... |
Intel | 500 kHz | 8 | 10 μm | 3,500 pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1972 | PPS-4 | Rockwell Rockwell - People :* Dick Rockwell, an American comic strip and comic book artist, nephew of Norman Rockwell* Francis W. Rockwell, a United States Congressman from Massachusetts* Francis W... |
200 kHz | 4 | pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1973 | μCOM 4 | NEC NEC , a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government.... |
1 MHz | 4 | 2,500 NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1973 | IMP-16 IMP-16 The IMP-16, by National Semiconductor, was the first multi-chip 16-bit microprocessor. It consisted of five PMOS integrated circuits: four four-bit RALU chips providing the data path, and one CROM providing control sequencing and microcode storage.The IMP-16 provided four 16-bit accumulators,... |
National National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
715 kHz | 16 | Multi-chip, pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1973 | Mini-D | Burroughs | 1 MHz | 8 | pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1974 | IMP-8 | National National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
715 kHz | 8 | Multi-chip, pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1974 | 8080 Intel 8080 The Intel 8080 was the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel and was released in April 1974. It was an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibility... |
Intel | 2 MHz | 8 | 6 μm | 6,000 NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1974 | 5065 | Mostek Mostek Mostek was an integrated circuit manufacturer, founded in 1969 by ex-employees of Texas Instruments. Initially their products were manufactured in Worcester, Massachusetts, however by 1974 most of its manufacturing was done in the Carrollton, Texas facility on Crosby Road... |
1.4 MHz | 8 | pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1974 | TLCS-12 | Toshiba Toshiba is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and... |
1 MHz | 12 | NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1974 | CP1600 General Instrument CP1600 The CP1600 was a 16-bit microprocessor created in a partnership between General Instrument and Honeywell in the 1970s. The CP1600's design was based on the PDP-11, whose design also formed the basis of the Western Digital MCP-1600 and influenced others... |
General Instrument General Instrument General Instrument was an electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, PA specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. The company was active until 1997, when it split into which was later acquired by Vishay Intertechnology in 2001, CommScope and NextLevel Systems General... |
3.3 MHz | 16 | NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1974 | IMP-4 | National National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
500 kHz | 4 | Multi-chip, pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1974 | 4040 Intel 4040 The Intel 4040 microprocessor was the successor to the Intel 4004. It was introduced in 1974. The 4040 employed a 10 μm silicon gate enhancement load PMOS technology, was made up of 3,000 transistors and could execute approximately 60,000 instructions per second.- Extensions :*Instruction Set... |
Intel | 740 kHz | 4 | 10 μm | 3,000 pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1974 | 6800 Motorola 6800 The 6800 was an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System that also included serial and parallel interface ICs, RAM, ROM and other support chips... |
Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
1 MHz | 8 | - | 4,100 NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1974 | TMS 1000 | Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology... |
400 kHz | 4 | 8 μm | 8,000 |
| 1974 | PACE National Semiconductor PACE National Semiconductor's IPC-16A/520 PACE, short for "Processing and Control Element", was the first commercial single-chip 16-bit microprocessor... |
National National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
16 | pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
||
| 1975 | 6100 Intersil 6100 The Intersil 6100 family consisted of a 12-bit microprocessor and a range of peripheral support and memory ICs developed in the mid-1970s.The microprocessor recognised the PDP-8 instruction set.... |
Intersil Intersil Intersil Corporation is an American company that specializes in the design, development and manufacturing of high-performance analog semiconductors for four high-growth markets — Communications, Computing, High End Consumer and Industrial.-Company history:... |
4 MHz | 12 | - | 20,000 |
| 1975 | 2650 Signetics 2650 The Signetics 2650, was a very early 8-bit microprocessor. According to Adam Osborne's classic book An Introduction to Microprocessors Vol 2: Some Real Products, it was "the most minicomputer-like" of the microprocessors available at the time.... |
Signetics Signetics Signetics, once a major player in semiconductor manufacturing, made a variety of devices which included integrated circuits, bipolar and MOS, the Dolby circuit, logic, memory and analog circuits. They developed microprocessors like the 2650, the bipolar 8X300 and had licensed Motorola 68000... |
1.2 MHz | 8 | NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1975 | PPS-8 | Rockwell Rockwell - People :* Dick Rockwell, an American comic strip and comic book artist, nephew of Norman Rockwell* Francis W. Rockwell, a United States Congressman from Massachusetts* Francis W... |
256 kHz | 8 | pMOS PMOS logic P-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1975 | F-8 | Fairchild Fairchild Semiconductor Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing... |
2 MHz | 8 | NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
|
| 1975 | CDP 1801 | RCA RCA RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor... |
2 MHz | 8 | 5 μm | 5,000 CMOS CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits... two-chip |
| 1975 | 6502 MOS Technology 6502 The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of... |
MOS Technologies | 1 MHz | 8 | - | 4,000 |
| 1975 | BPC | Hewlett Packard | 10 MHz | 16 | - | 6,000 + ROM |
| 1976 | CDP 1802 | RCA RCA RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor... |
6.4 MHz | 8 | CMOS CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits... |
|
| 1976 | Z-80 | Zilog Zilog Zilog, Inc., previously known as ZiLOG , is a manufacturer of 8-bit and 24-bit microcontrollers, and is most famous for its Intel 8080-compatible Z80 series.-History:... |
2.5 MHz | 8 | 4 μm | 8,500 |
| 1976 | TMS9900 | Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology... |
3.3 MHz | 16 | - | 8,000 |
| 1976 | 8x300 | Signetics Signetics Signetics, once a major player in semiconductor manufacturing, made a variety of devices which included integrated circuits, bipolar and MOS, the Dolby circuit, logic, memory and analog circuits. They developed microprocessors like the 2650, the bipolar 8X300 and had licensed Motorola 68000... |
8 MHz | 8 | Bipolar | |
| 1977 | 8085 Intel 8085 The Intel 8085 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Intel in 1977. It was binary-compatible with the more-famous Intel 8080 but required less supporting hardware, thus allowing simpler and less expensive microcomputer systems to be built.... |
Intel | 3.0 MHz | 8 | 3 μm | 6,500 |
| 1978 | 6809 Motorola 6809 The Motorola 6809 is an 8-bit microprocessor CPU from Motorola, designed by Terry Ritter and Joel Boney and introduced 1978... |
Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
1 MHz | 8 | 5 μm | 40,000 |
| 1978 | 8086 Intel 8086 The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and mid-1978, when it was released. The 8086 gave rise to the x86 architecture of Intel's future processors... |
Intel | 5 MHz | 16 | 3 μm | 29,000 |
| 1978 | 6801 Motorola 6800 The 6800 was an 8-bit microprocessor designed and first manufactured by Motorola in 1974. The MC6800 microprocessor was part of the M6800 Microcomputer System that also included serial and parallel interface ICs, RAM, ROM and other support chips... |
Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
- | 8 | 5 μm | 35,000 |
| 1979 | Z8000 | Zilog Zilog Zilog, Inc., previously known as ZiLOG , is a manufacturer of 8-bit and 24-bit microcontrollers, and is most famous for its Intel 8080-compatible Z80 series.-History:... |
- | 16 | - | 17,500 |
| 1979 | 8088 Intel 8088 The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however... |
Intel | 5 MHz | 8/16 | 3 μm | 29,000 |
| 1979 | 68000 | Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
8 MHz | 16/32 | 4 μm | 68,000 |
1980s
In the 1980s the microprocessors are 16-bit16-bit
-16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...
and 32-bit
32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
, mostly manufactured with the CMOS
CMOS
Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits...
technology.
| Date | Name | Developer | Clock | Word size (bits) |
Process | Transistors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 16032 | National Semiconductor National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
- | 16/32 | - | 60,000 |
| 1981 | 6120 | Harris Corporation Harris Corporation Harris Corporation is a Florida-based international communications equipment company that produces wireless equipment, electronic systems, and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, and commercial sectors. It is also the largest private-sector employer in... |
10 MHz | - | - | 20,000 |
| 1981 | ROMP ROMP The ROMP or Research Micro Processor was a 10 MHz RISC microprocessor designed by IBM in the early 1980s manufactured on a 2 µm process with 45,000 transistors.... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
10 MHz | 32 | 2 µm | 45,000 |
| 1981 | T-11 DEC T-11 The T-11, also known as DC310, is a microprocessor that implements the PDP-11 instruction set architecture developed by Digital Equipment Corporation. The T-11 was code-named "Tiny". It was developed for embedded systems and was the first single-chip microprocessor developed by DEC... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
2.5 MHz | 16 | 5 µm | 17,000 NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1982 | RISC-I | UC Berkeley University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA... |
1 MHz | - | 5 µm | 44,420 NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1982 | FOCUS FOCUS (hardware) The Hewlett-Packard FOCUS microprocessor, launched in 1982, was the first commercial, single chip, fully 32-bit microprocessor available on the market. At this time, all 32-bit competitors used multi-chip bit-slice-CPU designs... |
Hewlett Packard | 18 MHz | 32 | 1.5 µm | 450,000 |
| 1982 | 80186 | Intel | 6 MHz | 16 | - | 55,000 |
| ? | 80C186 | Intel | 6 MHz | 16 | - | ? CMOS CMOS Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, static RAM, and other digital logic circuits... |
| 1982 | 80188 | Intel | 8 MHz | 8/16 | - | 29,000 |
| 1982 | 80286 | Intel | 6 MHz | 16 | 1.5 µm | 134,000 |
| 1983 | RISC-II | UC Berkeley University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA... |
3 MHz | - | 3 µm | 40,760 NMOS NMOS logic N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor logic uses n-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors to implement logic gates and other digital circuits... |
| 1983 | MIPS | Stanford University Stanford University The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San... |
2 MHz | 32 | 3 µm | 25,000 |
| 1984 | 68020 | Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
16 MHz | 32 | 2 µm | 190,000 |
| 1984 | 32032 | National Semiconductor National Semiconductor National Semiconductor was an American semiconductor manufacturer, that specialized in analog devices and subsystems,formerly headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA. The products of National Semiconductor included power management circuits, display drivers, audio and operational amplifiers,... |
- | 32 | - | 70,000 |
| 1984 | V20 NEC V20 The NEC V20 was a processor made by NEC that was a reverse-engineered, pin-compatible version of the Intel 8088 with an instruction set compatible with the Intel 80186... |
NEC NEC , a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government.... |
5 MHz | 8/16 | - | 63,000 |
| 1985 | 80386 | Intel | 16-40 MHz | 32 | 1.5 µm | 275,000 |
| 1985 | MicroVax II 78032 MicroVAX 78032 The MicroVAX 78032 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented a subset of the VAX instruction set architecture . The 78032 was used exclusively in DEC's VAX-based systems, starting with the MicroVAX II in 1985... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
5 MHz | 32 | 3.0 µm | 125,000 |
| 1985 | R2000 R2000 (microprocessor) The R2000 is a microprocessor chip set developed by MIPS Computer Systems that implemented the MIPS I instruction set architecture . Introduced in January 1986, it was the first commercial implementation of the MIPS architecture and the first merchant RISC processor available to all companies... |
MIPS MIPS Technologies MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was... |
8 MHz | 32 | 2 µm | 115,000 |
| 1988 | R3000 R3000 The R3000 is a microprocessor chip set developed by MIPS Computer Systems that implemented the MIPS I instruction set architecture . Introduced in June 1988, it was the second MIPS implementation, succeeding the R2000 as the flagship MIPS microprocessor... |
MIPS MIPS Technologies MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was... |
12 MHz | 32 | 1.2 µm | 120,000 |
| 1986 | Z80000 | Zilog Zilog Zilog, Inc., previously known as ZiLOG , is a manufacturer of 8-bit and 24-bit microcontrollers, and is most famous for its Intel 8080-compatible Z80 series.-History:... |
- | 32 | - | 91,000 |
| 1986 | SPARC SPARC SPARC is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and introduced in mid-1987.... |
Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
40 MHz | 32 | 0.8 µm | 800,000 |
| 1986 | V60 NEC V60 The NEC V60 was a CISC processor manufactured by NEC introduced in the late 1980s. It had a 32-bit internal bus and a 16-bit external bus with a 24-bit address bus. A relatively obscure design, it was a radical departure from NEC's previous V-series CPUs , most of which were based on the Intel x86... |
NEC NEC , a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government.... |
16 MHz | 16/32 | 1.5 µm | 375,000 |
| 1987 | CVAX 78034 CVAX The CVAX is a microprocessor chip set developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the VAX instruction set architecture... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
12.5 MHz | 32 | 2.0 µm | 134,000 |
| 1987 | ARM2 | ARM Limited | 18 MHz | 32 | 2 µm | 25,000 |
| 1987 | Gmicro/200 TRON Project TRON is an open real-time operating system kernel design, and is an acronym for "The Real-time Operating system Nucleus". The project was started by Prof. Dr. Ken Sakamura of the University of Tokyo in 1984... |
Hitachi Hitachi Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family... |
- | - | 1.0 µm | 730,000 |
| 1987 | 68030 | Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
16 MHz | 32 | 1.3 µm | 273,000 |
| 1987 | V70 NEC V60 The NEC V60 was a CISC processor manufactured by NEC introduced in the late 1980s. It had a 32-bit internal bus and a 16-bit external bus with a 24-bit address bus. A relatively obscure design, it was a radical departure from NEC's previous V-series CPUs , most of which were based on the Intel x86... |
NEC NEC , a Japanese multinational IT company, has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. NEC, part of the Sumitomo Group, provides information technology and network solutions to business enterprises, communications services providers and government.... |
20 MHz | 16/32 | 1.5 µm | 385,000 |
| 1988 | 80386SX | Intel | 12-33 MHz | 16/32 | - | - |
| 1988 | i960 Intel i960 Intel's i960 was a RISC-based microprocessor design that became popular during the early 1990s as an embedded microcontroller, becoming a best-selling CPU in that field, along with the competing AMD 29000... |
Intel | 10 MHz | 33/32 | 1.5 µm | 250,000 |
| 1989 | VAX DC520 "Rigel" Rigel (microprocessor) Rigel was a microprocessor chip set developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the VAX instruction set architecture . It was introduced on 11 July 1989 with the introduction of the VAX 6000 Model 400, the first system to feature the chip set. Rigel was also used in... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
35 MHz | 32 | 1.5 µm | 320,000 |
| 1989 | 80486 | Intel | 25 MHz | 32 | 1 µm | 1,180,000 |
| 1989 | i860 Intel i860 The Intel i860 was a RISC microprocessor from Intel, first released in 1989. The i860 was one of Intel's first attempts at an entirely new, high-end instruction set since the failed Intel i432 from the 1980s... |
Intel | 25 MHz | 32 | 1 µm | 1,000,000 |
1990s
At the beginning of the1990s the microprocessors were still 32-bit32-bit
The range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
, transitioning to 64-bit
64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
during the decade. The external RAM
Random-access memory
Random access memory is a form of computer data storage. Today, it takes the form of integrated circuits that allow stored data to be accessed in any order with a worst case performance of constant time. Strictly speaking, modern types of DRAM are therefore not random access, as data is read in...
speed no longer follow the microprocessor's. So two clocks appears, an external and a faster internal. The internal is the one listed here.
| Date | Name | Developer | Clock | Word size (bits) |
Process | Transistors (M) | threads Multithreading (computer hardware) Multithreading computers have hardware support to efficiently execute multiple threads. These are distinguished from multiprocessing systems in that the threads have to share the resources of a single core: the computing units, the CPU caches and the translation lookaside buffer... per core |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 68040 Motorola 68040 The Motorola 68040 is a microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060. There was no 68050. In keeping with general Motorola naming, the 68040 is often referred to as simply the '040 .... |
Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
40 MHz | 32 | - | 1.2 | |
| 1990 | POWER1 POWER1 The POWER1 is a multi-chip CPU developed and fabricated by IBM that implemented the POWER instruction set architecture . It was originally known as the “RISC System/6000 CPU” or when an abbreviated form, the “RS/6000 CPU” before introduction of successors required the original name to be replaced... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
20-30 MHz | 32 | 1.0 µm | 6.9 | |
| 1991 | R4000 R4000 The R4000 is a microprocessor developed by MIPS Computer Systems that implemented the MIPS III instruction set architecture . Officially announced on 1 October 1991, it was one of the first 64-bit microprocessors and the first MIPS III implementation... |
MIPS Computer Systems | 100 MHz | 64 | 0.8 µm | 1.35 | |
| 1991 | NVAX NVAX The NVAX is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the VAX instruction set architecture . The NVAX was a high-end single-chip VAX microprocessor. A variant of the NVAX, the NVAX+, differed in the bus interface and external cache supported, but... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
62.5-90.91 MHz | - | 0.75 µm | 1.3 | |
| 1991 | RSC RISC Single Chip The RISC Single Chip, or RSC, is a single-chip microprocessor developed and fabricated by International Business Machines . The RSC was a feature-reduced single-chip implementation of the POWER1, a multi-chip central processing unit which implemented the POWER instruction set architecture... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
33 MHz | - | 0.8 µm | 1.0 | |
| 1992 | Alpha 21064 Alpha 21064 The Alpha 21064 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture . It was introduced as the DECchip 21064 before it was renamed in 1994. The 21064 is also known by its code name, EV4... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
100-200 MHz | 64 | 0.75 µm | 1.68 | |
| 1992 | microSPARC I | Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
40-50 MHz | 32 | 0.8 µm | 0.8 | |
| 1992 | PA-7100 PA-7100 The PA-7100 is a microprocessor developed by Hewlett-Packard that implemented the PA-RISC 1.1 instruction set architecture . It is also known as the PCX-T and by its code-name Thunderbird. It was introduced in early 1992 and was the first PA-RISC microprocessor to integrate the floating-point unit... |
Hewlett Packard | 100 MHz | 32 | 0.80 µm | 0.85 | |
| 1993 | PowerPC 601 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... , Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
50-80 MHz | 32 | 0.6 µm | 2.8 | |
| 1993 | Pentium | Intel | 60-66 MHz | - | 0.8 µm | 3.1 | |
| 1993 | POWER2 POWER2 The POWER2, originally named RIOS2, is a processor designed by IBM that implemented the POWER instruction set architecture. The POWER2 was the successor of the POWER1, debuting in September 1993 within IBM's RS/6000 systems. When introduced, the POWER2 was the fastest microprocessor, surpassing the... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
55-71.5 MHz | 32 | 0.72 µm | 23 | |
| 1994 | 68060 | Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
50 MHz | 32 | 0.6 µm | 2.5 | |
| 1994 | Alpha 21064A Alpha 21064 The Alpha 21064 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture . It was introduced as the DECchip 21064 before it was renamed in 1994. The 21064 is also known by its code name, EV4... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
200-300 MHz | 64 | 0.5 µm | 2.85 | |
| 1994 | R4600 R4600 The R4600, code-named "Orion", is a microprocessor developed by Quantum Effect Design that implemented the MIPS III instruction set architecture . As QED was a design firm that did not fabricate or sell their designs, the R4600 was first licensed to Integrated Device Technology , and later to... |
QED Quantum Effect Devices Quantum Effect Devices was a company originally named Quantum Effect Design, incorporated in 1991. The three founders, Tom Riordan, Earl Killian and Ray Kunita, were senior managers at MIPS Computer Systems Inc.... |
100 - 125 MHz | - | 0.65 µm | 2.2 | |
| 1994 | PA-7200 PA-7200 The PA-7200 , code-named Thunderbird, is a microprocessor that implements the PA-RISC 1.1 instruction set architecture developed by Hewlett-Packard . It was introduced in early 1995, debuting in systems from HP... |
Hewlett Packard | 125 MHz | 32 | 0.55 µm | 1.26 | |
| 1994 | PowerPC 603 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... , Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
60-120 MHz | 32 | 0.5 µm | 1.6 | |
| 1994 | PowerPC 604 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... , Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
100-180 MHz | 32 | 0.5 µm | 3.6 | |
| 1994 | PA-7100LC PA-7100LC The PA-7100LC is a microprocessor that implements the PA-RISC 1.1 instruction set architecture developed by Hewlett-Packard . It is also known as the PCX-L, and by its code-name, Hummingbird. It was designed as a low-cost microprocessor for low-end systems. The first systems to feature the... |
Hewlett Packard | 100 MHz | 32 | 0.75 µm | 0.90 | |
| 1995 | Alpha 21164 Alpha 21164 The Alpha 21164, also known by its code name, EV5, is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture . It was introduced in January 1995, succeeding the Alpha 21064A as Digital's flagship microprocessor... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
266-333 MHz | 64 | 0.5 µm | 9.3 | |
| 1995 | UltraSPARC UltraSPARC The UltraSPARC is a microprocessor developed by Sun Microsystems who is now a part of Oracle Corporation and fabricated by Texas Instruments that implements the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture . It was introduced in mid-1995. It was the first microprocessor from Sun Microsystems to implement... |
Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
143–167 MHz | 64 | 0.47 µm | 5.2 | |
| 1995 | SPARC64 SPARC64 SPARC64 is a microprocessor developed by HAL Computer Systems and fabricated by Fujitsu. It implements the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture , the first microprocessor to do so. SPARC64 was HAL's first microprocessor and was the first in the SPARC64 brand. It operates at 101 and 118 MHz... |
HAL Computer Systems HAL Computer Systems HAL Computer Systems, Inc was a Campbell, California-based computer manufacturer founded in 1990 by Andrew Heller, a principal designer of the original IBM POWER architecture... |
101–118 MHz | 64 | 0.40 µm | - | |
| 1995 | Pentium Pro Pentium Pro The Pentium Pro is a sixth-generation x86 microprocessor developed and manufactured by Intel introduced in November 1, 1995 . It introduced the P6 microarchitecture and was originally intended to replace the original Pentium in a full range of applications... |
Intel | 150-200 MHz | - | 0.35 µm | 5.5 | |
| 1996 | Alpha 21164A Alpha 21164 The Alpha 21164, also known by its code name, EV5, is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture . It was introduced in January 1995, succeeding the Alpha 21064A as Digital's flagship microprocessor... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
400-500 MHz | 64 | 0.35 µm | 9.7 | |
| 1996 | K5 AMD K5 The K5 was AMD's first x86 processor to be developed entirely in-house. Introduced in March 1996, its primary competition was Intel's Pentium microprocessor. The K5 was an ambitious design, closer to a Pentium Pro than a Pentium regarding technical solutions and internal architecture... |
AMD | 75-100 MHz | - | 0.5 µm | 4.3 | |
| 1996 | R10000 R10000 The R10000, code-named "T5", is a RISC microprocessor implementation of the MIPS IV instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies, Inc. , then a division of Silicon Graphics, Inc. . The chief designers were Chris Rowen and Kenneth C. Yeager... |
MTI MIPS Technologies MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was... |
150-250 MHz | 64 | 0.35 µm | 6.7 | |
| 1996 | R5000 R5000 The R5000 is a microprocessor that implements the MIPS IV instruction set architecture developed by Quantum Effect Design . The project was funded by MIPS Technologies, Inc , also the licensor. MTI then licensed the design to Integrated Device Technology , NEC, NKK, and Toshiba... |
QED Quantum Effect Devices Quantum Effect Devices was a company originally named Quantum Effect Design, incorporated in 1991. The three founders, Tom Riordan, Earl Killian and Ray Kunita, were senior managers at MIPS Computer Systems Inc.... |
180 - 250 MHz | - | 0.35 µm | 3.7 | |
| 1996 | SPARC64 II | HAL Computer Systems HAL Computer Systems HAL Computer Systems, Inc was a Campbell, California-based computer manufacturer founded in 1990 by Andrew Heller, a principal designer of the original IBM POWER architecture... |
141–161 MHz | 64 | 0.35 µm | - | |
| 1996 | PA-8000 PA-8000 The PA-8000 , code-named Onyx, is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Hewlett-Packard that implemented the PA-RISC 2.0 instruction set architecture . It was a completely new design with no circuitry derived from previous PA-RISC microprocessors... |
Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including... |
160-180 MHz | 64 | 0.50 µm | 3.8 | |
| 1996 | P2SC | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
150 MHz | 32 | 0.29 µm | 15 | |
| 1997 | RS64 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
125 MHz | 64 | ? nm | ? | |
| 1997 | Pentium II Pentium II The Pentium II brand refers to Intel's sixth-generation microarchitecture and x86-compatible microprocessors introduced on May 7, 1997. Containing 7.5 million transistors, the Pentium II featured an improved version of the first P6-generation core of the Pentium Pro, which contained 5.5 million... |
Intel | 233-300 MHz | - | 0.35 µm | 7.5 | |
| 1997 | PowerPC 620 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... , Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
120-150 MHz | 64 | 0.35 µm | 6.9 | |
| 1997 | UltraSPARC IIs | Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
250-400 MHz | 64 | 0.35 µm | 5.4 | |
| 1997 | S/390 G4 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
370 MHz | - | 0.5 µm | 7.8 | |
| 1997 | PowerPC 750 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... , Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
233-366 MHz | 32 | 0.26 µm | 6.35 | |
| 1997 | K6 AMD K6 The K6 microprocessor was launched by AMD in 1997. The main advantage of this particular microprocessor is that it was designed to fit into existing desktop designs for Pentium branded CPUs. It was marketed as a product which could perform as well as its Intel Pentium II equivalent but at a... |
AMD | 166-233 MHz | - | 0.35 µm | 8.8 | |
| 1998 | RS64-II | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
262 MHz | 64 | 350 nm | 12.5 | |
| 1998 | Alpha 21264 Alpha 21264 The Alpha 21264 was a Digital Equipment Corporation RISC microprocessor introduced in October, 1996. The 21264 implemented the Alpha instruction set architecture .- Description :... |
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s... |
450-600 MHz | 64 | 0.35 µm | 15.2 | |
| 1998 | MIPS MIPS architecture MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit... R12000 |
SGI Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark... |
270-400 MHz | 64 | 0.25 µm, 0.18 µm | 6.9 | |
| 1998 | RM7000 | QED Quantum Effect Devices Quantum Effect Devices was a company originally named Quantum Effect Design, incorporated in 1991. The three founders, Tom Riordan, Earl Killian and Ray Kunita, were senior managers at MIPS Computer Systems Inc.... |
250 - 300 MHz | - | 0.25 µm | 18 | |
| 1998 | SPARC64 III | HAL Computer Systems HAL Computer Systems HAL Computer Systems, Inc was a Campbell, California-based computer manufacturer founded in 1990 by Andrew Heller, a principal designer of the original IBM POWER architecture... |
250-330 MHz | 64 | 0.24 µm | 17.6 | |
| 1998 | S/390 G5 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
500 MHz | - | 0.25 µm | 25 | |
| 1998 | PA-8500 | Hewlett Packard | 300-440 MHz | 64 | 0.25 µm | 140 | |
| 1998 | POWER3 POWER3 The POWER3 is a microprocessor, designed and exclusively manufactured by IBM, that implemented the 64-bit version of the PowerPC instruction set architecture , including all of the optional instructions of the ISA such as the POWER2. It was introduced on 5 October 1998, debuting in the RS/6000 43P... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
200 MHz | 64 | 0.25 µm | 15 | |
| 1999 | Pentium III Pentium III The Pentium III brand refers to Intel's 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile microprocessors based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture introduced on February 26, 1999. The brand's initial processors were very similar to the earlier Pentium II-branded microprocessors... |
Intel | 450-600 MHz | - | 0.25 µm | 9.5 | |
| 1999 | RS64-III | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
450 MHz | 64 | 220 nm | 34 | 2 |
| 1999 | PowerPC 7400 | Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
350-500 MHz | 32 | 200-130 nm | 10.5 | |
| 1999 | Athlon Athlon Athlon is the brand name applied to a series of x86-compatible microprocessors designed and manufactured by Advanced Micro Devices . The original Athlon was the first seventh-generation x86 processor and, in a first, retained the initial performance lead it had over Intel's competing processors... |
AMD | 500-1000 MHz | - | 0.25 µm | 22 | |
2000s
In the 2000s the microprocessors clock increase reach a ceiling because of the heat dissipation barrier. Because of this multi-core machine appears. 64-bit64-bit
64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
processors become mainstream.
| Date | Name | Developer | Clock | Process | Transistors (M) | Cores per die / Dies per module Multi-Chip Module A multi-chip module is a specialized electronic package where multiple integrated circuits , semiconductor dies or other discrete components are packaged onto a unifying substrate, facilitating their use as a single component... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Athlon XP | AMD | 1.33-1.73 GHz | 180 nm | 37.5 | 1 / 1 |
| 2000 | Duron Duron The AMD Duron was an x86-compatible microprocessor manufactured by AMD. It was released on June 19, 2000 as a low-cost alternative to AMD's own Athlon processor and the Pentium III and Celeron processor lines from rival Intel... |
AMD | 550 MHz-1.3 GHz | 180 nm | 25 | 1 / 1 |
| 2000 | RS64-IV | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
600 MHz-750 MHz | 180 nm | 44 | 1 / 2 |
| 2000 | Pentium 4 Pentium 4 Pentium 4 was a line of single-core desktop and laptop central processing units , introduced by Intel on November 20, 2000 and shipped through August 8, 2008. They had a 7th-generation x86 microarchitecture, called NetBurst, which was the company's first all-new design since the introduction of the... |
Intel | 1.3-2 GHz | 180-130 nm | 42 | 1 / 1 |
| 2000 | SPARC64 IV | Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... |
450–810 MHz | 130 nm | - | 1 / 1 |
| 2000 | z900 | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
918 MHz | 180 nm | 47 | 1 / 12, 20 |
| 2001 | MIPS MIPS architecture MIPS is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by MIPS Technologies . The early MIPS architectures were 32-bit, and later versions were 64-bit... R14000 |
SGI Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark... |
500-600 MHz | 130 nm | 7.2 | 1 / 1 |
| 2001 | POWER4 POWER4 The POWER4 is a microprocessor developed by International Business Machines that implemented the 64-bit PowerPC and PowerPC AS instruction set architectures. Released in 2001, the POWER4 succeeded the POWER3 and RS64 microprocessors, and was used in RS/6000 and AS/400 computers, ending a separate... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
1.1-1.4 GHz | 180-130 nm | 174 | 2 / 1, 4 |
| 2001 | UltraSPARC III UltraSPARC III The UltraSPARC III, code-named "Cheetah", is a microprocessor that implements the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture developed by Sun Microsystems and fabricated by Texas Instruments. It was introduced in 2001 and operated at 600 to 900 MHz. It was succeeded by the UltraSPARC IV in 2004... |
Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
750-1200 MHz | 130 nm | 29 | 1 / 1 |
| 2001 | Itanium Itanium Itanium is a family of 64-bit Intel microprocessors that implement the Intel Itanium architecture . Intel markets the processors for enterprise servers and high-performance computing systems... |
Intel | 733-800 MHz | 180 nm | 25 | 1 / 1 |
| 2001 | PowerPC 7450 | Motorola Motorola Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009... |
733-800 MHz | 180-130 nm | 33 | 1 / 1 |
| 2002 | SPARC64 V SPARC64 V SPARC64 V refers to two unique microprocessors, the SPARC64 V "Zeus" developed by Fujitsu, and an earlier design developed by HAL Computer Systems that never made it into production. The HAL design was canceled in mid-2001 when HAL, a subsidiary of Fujitsu, was closed... |
Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... |
1.1-1.35 GHz | 130 nm | 190 | 1 / 1 |
| 2002 | Itanium 2 | Intel | 0.9-1 GHz | 180 nm | 410 | 1 / 1 |
| 2003 | PowerPC 970 PowerPC 970 The PowerPC 970, PowerPC 970FX, PowerPC 970GX, and PowerPC 970MP, are 64-bit Power Architecture processors from IBM introduced in 2002. When used in Apple Inc. machines, they were dubbed the PowerPC G5.... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
1.6-2.0 GHz | 130-90 nm | 52 | 1 / 1 |
| 2003 | Pentium M Pentium M The Pentium M brand refers to a family of mobile single-core x86 microprocessors introduced in March 2003 , and forming a part of the Intel Carmel notebook platform under the then new Centrino brand... |
Intel | 0.9-1.7 GHz | 130-90 nm | 77 | 1 / 1 |
| 2003 | Opteron Opteron Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same... |
AMD | 1.4-2.4 GHz | 130 nm | 106 | 1 / 1 |
| 2004 | POWER5 POWER5 The POWER5 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by IBM. It is an improved version of the highly successful POWER4. The principal improvements are support for simultaneous multithreading and an on-die memory controller... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
1.65-1.9 GHz | 130-90 nm | 276 | 2 / 1, 2, 4 |
| 2005 | Opteron "Athens" Opteron Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same... |
AMD | 1.6-3.0 GHz | 90 nm | 114 | 1 / 1 |
| 2005 | Pentium D Pentium D The Pentium D brand refers to two series of desktop dual-core 64-bit x86-64 microprocessors with the NetBurst microarchitecture manufactured by Intel. Each CPU comprised two dies, each containing a single core, residing next to each other on a multi-chip module package. The brand's first processor,... |
Intel | 2.8-3.2 GHz | 90 nm | 115 | 1 / 2 |
| 2005 | Athlon 64 X2 Athlon 64 X2 The Athlon 64 X2 is the first dual-core desktop CPU designed by AMD. It was designed from scratch as native dual-core by using an already multi-CPU enabled Athlon 64, joining it with another functional core on one die, and connecting both via a shared dual-channel memory controller/north bridge and... |
AMD | 2-2.4 GHz | 90 nm | 243 | 2 / 1 |
| 2005 | UltraSPARC IV | Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
1.05-1.35 GHz | 130 nm | 66 | 2 / 1 |
| 2005 | UltraSPARC T1 UltraSPARC T1 |right|262px|UltraSPARC T1 processorSun Microsystems' UltraSPARC T1 microprocessor, known until its 14 November 2005 announcement by its development codename "Niagara", is a multithreading, multicore CPU... |
Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
1-1.4 GHz | 90 nm | 300 | 8 / 1 |
| 2005 | Xenon Xenon (processor) Xenon is a CPU that is used in the Xbox 360 game console. The processor, internally codenamed "Waternoose", which was named after Henry J. Waternoose III in Monsters Inc. by IBM and XCPU by Microsoft, is based on IBM's PowerPC instruction set architecture, consisting of three independent processor... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
3.2 GHz | 90-45 nm | 165 | 3 / 1 |
| 2006 | Core Duo Intel Core Yonah was the code name for Intel's first generation of 65 nm process mobile microprocessors, based on the Banias/Dothan-core Pentium M microarchitecture. SIMD performance has been improved through the addition of SSE3 instructions and improvements to SSE and SSE2 implementations, while integer... |
Intel | 1.1-2.33 GHz | 90-65 nm | 151 | 2 / 1 |
| 2006 | Core 2 | Intel | 1.06-2.67 GHz | 65-45 nm | 291 | 2 / 1, 2 |
| 2006 | Cell/B.E. Cell (microprocessor) Cell is a microprocessor architecture jointly developed by Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment, Toshiba, and IBM, an alliance known as "STI". The architectural design and first implementation were carried out at the STI Design Center in Austin, Texas over a four-year period beginning March 2001 on a... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... , Sony Sony , commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues.... , Toshiba Toshiba is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and... |
3.2-4.6 GHz | 90-45 nm | 241 | 1+8 / 1 |
| 2006 | Itanium "Montecito" Montecito (processor) Montecito is the code-name of a major release of Intel's Itanium 2 Processor Family , which implements the Intel Itanium architecture on a dual-core processor. It was officially launched by Intel on July 18, 2006 as the "Dual-Core Intel Itanium 2 processor"... |
Intel | 1.4-1.6 GHz | 90 nm | 1720 | 2 / 1 |
| 2007 | POWER6 POWER6 The POWER6 is a microprocessor developed by IBM that implemented the Power ISA v.2.03. When it became available in systems in 2007, it succeeded the POWER5+ as IBM's flagship Power microprocessor... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
3.5-4.7 GHz | 65 nm | 790 | 2 / 1 |
| 2007 | SPARC64 VI SPARC64 VI The SPARC64 VI, code-named Olympus-C, is a microprocessor, developed by Fujitsu. It implements the SPARC V9 instruction set architecture and is compliant with the Joint Programming Specification developed by Fujitsu and Sun. It is used by Fujitsu and Sun Microsystems in their SPARC Enterprise... |
Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... |
2.15-2.4 GHz | 90 nm | 543 | 2 / 1 |
| 2007 | UltraSPARC T2 UltraSPARC T2 Sun Microsystems' UltraSPARC T2 microprocessor is a multithreading, multi-core CPU. It is a member of the SPARC family, and the successor to the UltraSPARC T1. The chip is sometimes referred to by its codename, Niagara 2... |
Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
1-1.4 GHz | 65 nm | 503 | 8 / 1 |
| 2007 | TILE64 TILE64 TILE64 is a multicore processor manufactured by Tilera. It consists of a mesh network of 64 "tiles", where each tile houses a general purpose processor, cache, and a non-blocking router, which the tile uses to communicate with the other tiles on the processor.... |
Tilera Tilera Tilera Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company focusing on scalable multicore embedded processor design. The company is currently shipping multiple processors, including the TILE64, TILEPro64, and the TILEPro36, TILE-Gx36, TILE-Gx16 and TILE-Gx9... |
600-900 MHz | 90-45 nm | ? | 64 / 1 |
| 2007 | Opteron "Barcelona" Opteron Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same... |
AMD | 1.8-3.2 GHz | 65 nm | 463 | 4 / 1 |
| 2008 | Phenom Phenom (processor) Phenom is the 64-bit AMD desktop processor line based on the K10 microarchitecture, in what AMD calls family 10h processors, sometimes incorrectly called "K10h". Triple-core versions belong to the Phenom 8000 series and quad cores to the AMD Phenom X4 9000 series... |
AMD | 1.8-2.6 GHz | 65 nm | 450 | 2, 3, 4 / 1 |
| 2008 | z10 IBM z10 (microprocessor) The z10 is a microprocessor chip made by IBM for their System z10 mainframe computers, released February 26, 2008. It was called "z6" during development.- Description :... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
4.4 GHz | 65 nm | 993 | 4 / 7 |
| 2008 | PowerXCell 8i | IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
2.8-4.0 GHz | 65 nm | 250 | 1+8 / 1 |
| 2008 | SPARC64 VII | Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... |
2.4-2.88 GHz | 65 nm | 600 | 4 / 1 |
| 2008 | Atom Intel Atom Intel Atom is the brand name for a line of ultra-low-voltage x86 and x86-64 CPUs from Intel, designed in 45 nm CMOS and used mainly in netbooks, nettops, embedded application ranging from health care to advanced robotics and Mobile Internet devices... |
Intel | 0.8-1.6 GHz | 65-45 nm | 47 | 1 / 1 |
| 2008 | Core i7 | Intel | 2.66-3.2 GHz | 45-32 nm | 730 | 2, 4, 6 / 1 |
| 2008 | TILEPro64 TILEPro64 TILEPro64 is a multicore processor manufactured by Tilera. It consists of a cache-coherent mesh network of 64 "tiles", where each tile houses a general purpose processor, cache, and a non-blocking router, which the tile uses to communicate with the other tiles on the processor.The short-pipeline,... |
Tilera Tilera Tilera Corporation is a fabless semiconductor company focusing on scalable multicore embedded processor design. The company is currently shipping multiple processors, including the TILE64, TILEPro64, and the TILEPro36, TILE-Gx36, TILE-Gx16 and TILE-Gx9... |
600-866 MHz | 90-45 nm | ? | 64 / 1 |
| 2008 | Opteron "Shanghai" Opteron Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same... |
AMD | 2.3-2.9 GHz | 45 nm | 751 | 4 / 1 |
| 2009 | Phenom II Phenom II Phenom II is a family of AMD's multi-core 45 nm processors using the AMD K10 microarchitecture, succeeding the original Phenom. Advanced Micro Devices released the Socket AM2+ version of Phenom II in December 2008, while Socket AM3 versions with DDR3 support, along with an initial batch of... |
AMD | 2.5-3.2 GHz | 45 nm | 758 | 2, 3, 4, 6 / 1 |
| 2009 | Opteron "Istanbul" Opteron Opteron is AMD's x86 server and workstation processor line, and was the first processor which supported the AMD64 instruction set architecture . It was released on April 22, 2003 with the SledgeHammer core and was intended to compete in the server and workstation markets, particularly in the same... |
AMD | 2.2-2.8 GHz | 45 nm | 904 | 6 / 1 |
2010s
| Date | Name | Developer | Clock | Process | Transistors (M) | Cores per die / Dies per module Multi-Chip Module A multi-chip module is a specialized electronic package where multiple integrated circuits , semiconductor dies or other discrete components are packaged onto a unifying substrate, facilitating their use as a single component... |
threads Multithreading (computer hardware) Multithreading computers have hardware support to efficiently execute multiple threads. These are distinguished from multiprocessing systems in that the threads have to share the resources of a single core: the computing units, the CPU caches and the translation lookaside buffer... per core |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | POWER7 POWER7 POWER7 is a Power Architecture microprocessor released in 2010 that succeeded the POWER6. POWER7 was developed by IBM at several sites including IBM's Rochester, MN; Austin, TX; Essex Junction, Vermont; T. J. Watson Research Center, NY; Bromont, QC and Böblingen, Germany laboratories... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
3-4.14 GHz | 45 nm | 1200 | 4, 6, 8 / 1, 4 | 4 |
| 2010 | Itanium "Tukwila" Tukwila (processor) Tukwila is the code-name for the generation of Intel's Itanium processor family following Itanium 2 and Montecito. It was released on 8 February 2010 as the Itanium 9300 Series. While its features have not been publicly disclosed in detail, it utilizes both multiple processor cores and SMT... |
Intel | 2 GHz | 65 nm | 2000 | 2, 4 / 1 | 2 |
| 2010 | Opteron "Magny-cours" | AMD | 1.7-2.4 GHz | 45 nm | 1810 | 4, 6 / 2 | 1 |
| 2010 | Xeon "Nehalem-EX" | Intel | 1.73-2.66 GHz | 45 nm | 2300 | 4, 6, 8 / 1 | 2 |
| 2010 | z196 IBM z196 (microprocessor) The z196 microprocessor is a chip made by IBM for their zEnterprise 196 mainframe computers, announced on July 22, 2010. The processor was developed over a three year time span by IBM engineers from Poughkeepsie, New York; Austin, Texas; and Böblingen, Germany at a cost of US$1.5 billion... |
IBM IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
5.2 GHz | 45 nm | 1400 | 4 / 6 | 1 |
| 2010 | SPARC T3 | Sun Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982... |
1.6 GHz | 45 nm | 2000 | 16 / 1 | 8 |
| 2010 | SPARC64 VII+ | Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... |
2.66-3.0 GHz | 45 nm | ? | 4 / 1 | 2 |
| 2010 | Intel "Westmere" | Intel | 1.86-3.33 GHz | 32 nm | 1170 | 4-6 / 1 | 2 |
| 2011 | Intel "Sandy Bridge" | Intel | 1.6-3.4 GHz | 32 nm | 995 | 2, 4 / 1 | (1,) 2 |
| 2011 | AMD Fusion AMD Fusion AMD Fusion is the marketing name for a series of APUs by AMD. There are two flavors of Fusion currently available, one with its CPU logic based on the Bobcat core and the other its CPU logic based on the 10h core. In both cases the GPU logic is HD6xxx, which itself is based on the mobile variant of... |
AMD | 1.0-1.6 GHz | 40 nm | 380 | 1, 2 / 1 | 1 |
| 2011 | Xeon E7 | Intel | 1.73-2.67 GHz | 32 nm | 2600 | 4, 6, 8, 10 / 1 | 1-2 |
| 2011 | SPARC64 VIIIfx | Fujitsu Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues.... |
2.0 GHz | 45 nm | 760 | 8 / 1 | 2 |