2. 1960
computer processors
were constructed out of
small and medium-scale
ICs—each containing
from tens to a few
hundred transistors.
1970
The first microprocessors
emerged in the early 1970s
and were used for
electronic calculators,
using binary-coded
decimal (BCD) arithmetic
on 4-bit words
1975
Intel 8-bit processors. The
competing Motorola 6800
was released August 1974
and the similar MOS
Technology 6502 in 1975
3. 1980
In the mid-1980s, a new high-
performance Reduced Instruction
Set Computer microprocessors
appeared,. RISC microprocessors
were initially used in special-purpose
machines, but then gained wide
acceptance in other roles.
1982
Intel's first 32-bit microprocessor was
the iAPX 432, which was introduced
in 1981 but was not a commercial
success. It had an advanced
capability-based object-oriented
architecture, but poor performance
compared to contemporary
architectures such as Intel's own
80286 (introduced 1982),
1990
While 64-bit microprocessor designs
have been in use in several markets
since the early 1990s (including the
Nintendo 64 gaming console in
1996), the early 2000s saw the
introduction of 64-bit microprocessors
targeted at the PC market.
4. 1990’s
In the late 1990s, only two 64-bit RISC
architectures were still produced in
volume for non-embedded
applications: SPARC and Power ISA,
but as ARM has become increasingly
powerful, in the early 2010's, it
became the third RISC architecture
in the general computing segment.
2003
about $44 billion (USD) worth of
microprocessors were manufactured
and sold. Although about half of that
money was spent on CPUs used in
desktop or laptop personal
computers, those count for only
about 2% of all CPUs sold.
2008
About ten billion CPUs were
manufactured in 2008. About 98% of
new CPUs produced each year are
embedded.
