Intel Processor Generation Evolutionary History Since 1971 [Illustrated Timeline]

Intel Processor Evolutionary History - Illustrated Timeline

Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Santa Clara, California and has been in the semiconductor manufacturing business for decades. Since launching their first processor (also referred to as a central processing unit, or CPU for short) in 1971, Intel (which stands for "INTegrated ELectronics") has since made significant technological advances in chip design throughout the years to bring new generations of processors to the masses.

While competitors have come and gone over the decades, Intel stood as the leader in the processor market. With each generation, processors became more powerful and faster. By the early 21st century, Intel's processors were found in more than 80% of the computers worldwide. While it is known for their microprocessors, Intel also manufacturers wireless products, storage and memory devices, networking equipment, and more. The illustrated timeline below summarizes the major families of microprocessors Intel has produced since launching their first 4004 CPU in 1971.

Intel CPUs

Intel 4004 Processor

November 15, 1971

Intel's first processor, this 4-bit design was used in Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation Busicom 141-PF printing calculator.

Clock Speed: 740KHz
Type: 4-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 2,300
Manufacturing Technology: 10 micron

Busicom 141-PF printing calculator
Swtpc6800 Michael Holley, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Intel 8008 Processor

April 1972

Just five months after the release of the Intel 4004, Intel announced the 8008 processor, the first 8-bit processor with twice the performance as its predecessor.

Clock Speeds: 500-800KHz
Type: 8-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 3,500
Manufacturing Technology: 10 micron

Intel 8080 Processor

April 1974

Initial Clock Speed: 2MHz
Type: 8-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 4,500
Manufacturing Technology: 6 micron

Intel 8086 Processor

June 8, 1978

Intel's first commercial 16-bit processor and is considered to be the chip that launched the era of the successful x86 architecture family of processors.

Clock Speed: 5-10MHz
Type: 16-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 29,000
Manufacturing Technology: 3 micron

Intel 8088 Processor

June 1979

Powering the IBM 5150 (aka IBM Personal Computer or IBM PC) and clones, this processor was identical to the 8086 with the exception of its 8-bit external data bus width.

Clock Speed: 5-16MHz
Type: 16-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 29,000
Manufacturing Technology: 3 micron

IBM 5150
edwardhblake, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Intel 80186 Processor

1982

The Tandy 2000 computer was among the first PCs that used the Intel 80186 processor.

Clock Speed: 6-25MHz
Type: 16-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 55,000
Manufacturing Technology: 2 micron

Radio Shack/Tandy 2000 computer
www.old-computers.com

Intel 80286 Processor

February 1, 1982

Clock Speed: 6-25MHz
Type: 16-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 134,000
Manufacturing Technology: 1.5 micron

Intel 80386DX Processor

October 17, 1982

Intel's first 32-bit processor that has a 32-bit external bus and a 32-bit address bus. In the i386 processor family, the 'DX' stood for 'Double word eXternal' referring to the 32-bit external bus.

Clock Speed: 16-33MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 275,000
Manufacturing Technology: 1.5 micron

Intel 80386SX Processor

June 16, 1988

Lower cost variant of the 80386DX that has a 16-bit external bus and a 24-bit address bus. In the i386 processor family, the 'SX' stood for 'Single word eXternal' referring to the 16-bit external bus.

Clock Speed: 16-33MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 275,000
Manufacturing Technology: 1.5 micron

Intel 80486DX Processor

April 10, 1989

In the i486 processor family, the 'DX' refers to a 486 processor with an integrated math coprocessor.

Initial Clock Speed: 25MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 1.2 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 1 micron

Intel 80386SL Processor

October 15, 1990

Designed for laptops, this a low-power variant of the 80386DX processor with built-in power management feature.

Clock Speed: 20-25MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 855,000
Manufacturing Technology: 1 micron

Intel 80486SX Processor

April 22, 1991

Lower cost variant of the 80486DX that has the internal floating point unit (FPU) (aka math coprocessor) disabled. In the i486 processor family, the 'SX' refers to a 486 processor without an integrated math coprocessor.

Initial Clock Speed: 20MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 1.2 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 1 micron

Intel 80486DX2 Processor

March 3, 1992

Initial Clock Speed: 50MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 1.2 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.8 micron

Intel 80486SL Processor

November 9, 1992

Designed for laptops, this was a low-power variant of the 80486DX processor.

Initial Clock Speed: 20MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 1.4 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.8 micron

Intel Pentium Processor

March 22, 1993

Designed for laptops, this was a low-power variant of the 80486DX processor.

Initial Clock Speed: 66MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 3.1 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.8 micron

Intel Pentium Pro Processor

November 1, 1995

This 6th generation x86 processor was targeted towards servers, high-end workstations, and supercomputers such as the ASIC Red.

Initial Clock Speed: 200MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 5.5 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.35 micron

Intel Pentium II Processor

May 7, 1997

Initial Clock Speed: 300MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 7.5 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.25 micron

Intel Celeron Processor

1998

Aimed at lower cost computers, this was Intel's response to competitors such as AMD and Cyrix to regain shares in the low-end budget computer market.

Initial Clock Speed: 266MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 7.5 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.25 micron

Intel Celeron 500MHz Processor (Bottom Side)

Intel Pentium III Processor

February 26, 1999

The Intel Pentium III family consists of a few sub-families targeting different segments of computer market:

Pentium III Xeon - high performance version targeted towards servers and business workstations.
Pentium III desktop processors - targeted towards home and business desktop computers.
Desktop Celeron - low-cost version targeted towards budget and light-use computers.
Mobile Pentium III and Pentium III-M - mobile versions of the Pentium III processor intended for laptops.
Mobile Celeron - mobile version of Intel Celeron processor targeted towards budget laptops.

Clock Speeds: 400 to 1,400MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 9.5 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.25 micron

Intel Pentium III Processor with Coppermine Core

Intel Pentium 4 Processor

2000

Initial Clock Speed: 1.5GHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 42 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.18 micron

Intel Xeon Processor (Netburst-based)

2001

The Intel Xeon family of processors were targeted towards business servers and workstations.

Initial Clock Speed: 400MHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 42 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 0.18 micron

Intel Pentium M Processor

March 12, 2003

Clock Speeds: 1.7 to 2.26GHz
Type: 32-bit, Single-Core
Transistors: 77 to 140 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 90 to 130 nm

Intel Core2 Duo Processor

October 2006

Initial Clock Speeds: 2.66GHz
Type: 64-bit, 1, 2, or 4-Core
Transistors: 291 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 65 nm

Intel Atom Processor

April 2008

The Intel Atom line are low-power consuming, low-cost, and low-performance processors designed for netbooks, IoT devices, or other devices or systems that are function-specific.

Initial Clock Speed: 1.86GHz
Type: 32-bit, 1 to 8-Core
Transistors: 47 Million
Manufacturing Technology: 45 nm