Transputer

The transputer was a pioneering microprocessor architecture of the 1980s, featuring integrated memory and serial communication links, intended for parallel computing. It was designed and produced by Inmos, a semiconductor company based in Bristol, United Kingdom.

For some time in the late 1980s, many considered the transputer to be the next great design for the future of computing. While Inmos and the transputer did not ultimately live up to this expectation, the transputer architecture was highly influential in provoking new ideas in computer architecture, several of which have re-emerged in different forms in modern systems.

Background

In the early 1980s, conventional CPUs appeared to reach a performance limit. Up to that time, manufacturing difficulties limited the amount of circuitry designers could place on a chip. Continued improvements in the fabrication process, however, removed this restriction. Soon the problem became that the chips could hold more circuitry than the designers knew how to use. Traditional CISC designs were reaching a performance plateau, and it wasn't clear it could be overcome.