A 

microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of

a computer's central processing unit (CPU) on a single integrated
circuit (IC, or microchip).[1][2]
The first microprocessors emerged in the early 1970s and were used for
electronic calculators, using binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic on
4-bit words. Other embedded uses of 4-bit and 8-bit microprocessors,
such as terminals, printers, various kinds of automation etc., followed
soon after. Affordable 8-bit microprocessors with 16-bit addressing also
led to the first general-purpose microcomputers from the mid-1970s on.
During the 1960s, computer processors were often constructed out of
small and medium-scale ICs containing from tens to a few hundred
transistors. The integration of a whole CPU onto a single chip greatly
reduced the cost of processing power. From these humble beginnings,
continued increases in microprocessor capacity have rendered other
forms of computers almost completely obsolete (see history of
computing hardware), with one or more microprocessors used in
everything from the smallest embedded systems and handheld
devices to the largestmainframes and supercomputers.
Since the early 1970s, the increase in capacity of microprocessors has
followed Moore's law, which suggests that the number of transistors that
can be fitted onto a chip doubles every two years. Although originally
calculated as a doubling every year,[3] Moore later refined the period to
two years.[4] It is often incorrectly quoted as a doubling of transistors
every 18 months.
Contents

1 Firsts

o 1.1 Intel 4004

o 1.2 TMS 1000

o 1.3 Pico/General

Instrument

o 1.4 CADC

o 1.5 Gilbert Hyatt

o 1.6 Four-Phase Systems
 AL1

2 8-bit designs

3 12-bit designs

4 16-bit designs

5 32-bit designs

6 64-bit designs in personal

computers

7 Multicore designs

8 RISC

9 Special-purpose designs

10 Market statistics

11 See also

12 Notes and references

13 External links

[edit]Firsts

Three projects delivered a microprocessor at about the same

time: Intel's 4004, Texas Instruments (TI) TMS 1000, and Garrett
AiResearch's Central Air Data Computer (CADC).
[edit]Intel 4004

The 4004 with cover removed (left) and as actually used (right).

The Intel 4004 is generally regarded as the first microprocessor,[5][6] and

cost thousands of dollars.[7] The first known advertisement for the 4004 is
dated November 1971 and appeared in Electronic News.[8] The project
that produced the 4004 originated in 1969, whenBusicom, a Japanese
calculator manufacturer, asked Intel to build a chipset for high-
performance desktop calculators. Busicom's original design called for a
programmable chip set consisting of seven different chips. Three of the
chips were to make a special-purpose CPU with its program stored in
ROM and its data stored in shift register read-write memory. Ted Hoff,
the Intel engineer assigned to evaluate the project, believed the Busicom
design could be simplified by using dynamic RAM storage for data,
rather than shift register memory, and a more traditional general-purpose
CPU architecture. Hoff came up with a four–chip architectural proposal:
a ROM chip for storing the programs, a dynamic RAM chip for storing
data, a simple I/O device and a 4-bit central processing unit (CPU).
Although not a chip designer, he felt the CPU could be integrated into a
single chip. This chip would later be called the 4004 microprocessor.
The architecture and specifications of the 4004 came from the
interaction of Hoff with Stanley Mazor, a software engineer reporting to
him, and with Busicom engineer Masatoshi Shima, during 1969. In April
1970, Intel hired Federico Faggin to lead the design of the four-chip set.
Faggin, who originally developed the silicon gate technology (SGT) in
1968 at Fairchild Semiconductor[9] and designed the world’s first
commercial integrated circuit using SGT, the Fairchild 3708, had the
correct background to lead the project since it was SGT that made it
possible to implement a single-chip CPU with the proper speed, power
dissipation and cost. Faggin also developed the new methodology for
random logic design, based on silicon gate, that made the 4004
possible. Production units of the 4004 were first delivered to Busicom in
March 1971 and shipped to other customers in late 1971.
[edit]TMS 1000
The Smithsonian Institution says TI engineers Gary Boone and Michael
Cochran succeeded in creating the first microcontroller (also called a
microcomputer) in 1971. The result of their work was the TMS 1000,
which went commercial in 1974.[10]
TI developed the 4-bit TMS 1000 and stressed pre-programmed
embedded applications, introducing a version called the TMS1802NC on
September 17, 1971 which implemented a calculator on a chip.
TI filed for the patent on the microprocessor. Gary Boone was
awarded U.S. Patent 3,757,306 for the single-chip microprocessor
architecture on September 4, 1973. It may never be known which
company actually had the first working microprocessor running on the
lab bench. In both 1971 and 1976, Intel and TI entered into broad patent
cross-licensing agreements, with Intel paying royalties to TI for the
microprocessor patent. A nice history of these events is contained in
court documentation from a legal dispute between Cyrix and Intel, with
TI asintervenor and owner of the microprocessor patent.
A computer-on-a-chip is a variation of a microprocessor that combines
the microprocessor core (CPU), some program memory and read/write
memory, and I/O (input/output) lines onto one chip. The computer-on-a-
chip patent, called the "microcomputer patent" at the time, U.S. Patent
4,074,351, was awarded to Gary Boone and Michael J. Cochran of TI.
Aside from this patent, the standard meaning of microcomputer is a
computer using one or more microprocessors as its CPU(s), while the
concept defined in the patent is more akin to amicrocontroller.
[edit]Pico/General Instrument

The PICO1/GI250 chip introduced in 1971. This was designed by Pico Electronics (Glenrothes, Scotland) and manufactured
by General Instrument of Hicksville NY

In 1971 Pico Electronics[11] and General Instrument (GI) introduced their

first collaboration in ICs, a complete single chip calculator IC for the
Monroe/Litton Royal Digital III calculator. This chip could also arguably
lay claim to be one of the first microprocessors or microcontrollers
having ROM, RAM and a RISC instruction set on-chip. The layout for the
four layers of the PMOS process was hand drawn at x500 scale on
mylar film, a significant task at the time given the complexity of the chip.
Pico was a spinout by five GI design engineers whose vision was to
create single chip calculator ICs. They had significant previous design
experience on multiple calculator chipsets with both GI and Marconi-
Elliott.[12] The key team members had originally been tasked byElliott
Automation to create an 8 bit computer in MOS and had helped establish
a MOS Research Laboratory in Glenrothes, Scotland in 1967.
Calculators were becoming the largest single market for semiconductors
and Pico and GI went on to have significant success in this burgeoning
market. GI continued to innovate in microprocessors and
microcontrollers with products including the PIC1600, PIC1640 and
PIC1650. In 1987 the GI Microelectronics business was spun out into the
very successful PIC microcontroller business.
[edit]CADC
This section needs references that appear in reliable third-party publications. Primary
sources or sources affiliated with the subject are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia
article. Please add more appropriate citations from reliable sources. (March 2010)

In 1968, Garrett AiResearch (which employed designers Ray Holt and

Steve Geller) was invited to produce a digital computer to compete
with electromechanical systems then under development for the main
flight control computer in the US Navy's new F-14 Tomcat fighter. The
design was complete by 1970, and used aMOS-based chipset as the
core CPU. The design was significantly (approximately 20 times) smaller
and much more reliable than the mechanical systems it competed
against, and was used in all of the early Tomcat models. This system
contained "a 20-bit, pipelined, parallel multi-microprocessor". The Navy
refused to allow publication of the design until 1997. For this reason
the CADC, and the MP944 chipset it used, are fairly unknown.[13] Ray
Holt graduated California Polytechnic University in 1968, and began his
computer design career with the CADC. From its inception, it was
shrouded in secrecy until 1998 when at Holt's request, the US Navy
allowed the documents into the public domain. Since then
several[who?] have debated if this was the first microprocessor. Holt has
stated that no one has compared this microprocessor with those that
came later.[14] According to Parab et al. (2007), "The scientific papers
and literature published around 1971 reveal that the MP944 digital
processor used for the F-14 Tomcat aircraft of the US Navy qualifies as
the first microprocessor. Although interesting, it was not a single-chip
processor, and was not general purpose – it was more like a set of
parallel building blocks you could use to make a special-
purpose DSPform. It indicates that today’s industry theme of converging
DSP-microcontroller architectures was started in 1971."[15] This
convergence of DSP and microcontroller architectures is known as
a Digital Signal Controller.[citation needed]
[edit]Gilbert Hyatt
Gilbert Hyatt was awarded a patent claiming an invention pre-dating both
TI and Intel, describing a "microcontroller".[16] The patent was later
invalidated, but not before substantial royalties were paid out.[17][18]
[edit]Four-Phase Systems AL1
The Four-Phase Systems AL1 was an 8-bit bit slice chip containing eight
registers and an ALU.[19] It was designed by Lee Boysel in 1969.[20][21]
[22]
 At the time, it formed part of a nine-chip, 24-bit CPU with three AL1s,
but it was later called a microprocessor when, in response to 1990s
litigation by Texas Instruments, a demonstration system was constructed
where a single AL1 formed part of a courtroom demonstration computer
system, together with RAM, ROM, and an input-output device.[23]
[edit]8-bit designs
The Intel 4004 was followed in 1972 by the Intel 8008, the world's first 8-
bit microprocessor. The 8008 was not, however, an extension of the
4004 design, but instead the culmination of a separate design project at
Intel, arising from a contract with Computer Terminals Corporation, of
San Antonio TX, for a chip for a terminal they were designing,
[24]
 the Datapoint 2200 — fundamental aspects of the design came not
from Intel but from CTC. In 1968, CTC's Austin O. “Gus” Roche
developed the original design for the instruction set and operation of the
processor. In 1969, CTC contracted two companies, Intel and Texas
Instruments, to make a single-chip implementation, known as the CTC
1201.[25] In late 1970 or early 1971, TI dropped out being unable to make
a reliable part. In 1970, with Intel yet to deliver the part, CTC opted to
use their own implementation in the Datapoint 3300, using traditional
TTL logic instead (thus the first machine to run “8008 code” was not in
fact a microprocessor at all!). Intel's version of the 1201 microprocessor
arrived in late 1971, but was too late, slow, and required a number of
additional support chips. CTC had no interest in using it. CTC had
originally contracted Intel for the chip, and would have owed them
$50,000 for their design work.[25]To avoid paying for a chip they did not
want (and could not use), CTC released Intel from their contract and
allowed them free use of the design.[25] Intel marketed it as the 8008 in
April, 1972, as the world's first 8-bit microprocessor. It was the basis for
the famous "Mark-8" computer kit advertised in the magazine Radio-
Electronics in 1974.
The 8008 was the precursor to the very successful Intel 8080 (1974),
which offered much improved performance over the 8008 and required
fewer support chips, Zilog Z80 (1976), and derivative Intel 8-bit
processors. The competing Motorola 6800 was released August 1974
and the similar MOS Technology 6502 in 1975 (designed largely by the
same people). The 6502 rivaled the Z80 in popularity during the 1980s.
A low overall cost, small packaging, simple computer bus requirements,
and sometimes the integration of extra circuitry (e.g. the Z80's built-
in memory refresh circuitry) allowed thehome computer "revolution" to
accelerate sharply in the early 1980s. This delivered such inexpensive
machines as the Sinclair ZX-81, which sold for US$99.
The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC) introduced the CMOS 65C02 in
1982 and licensed the design to several firms. It was used as the CPU in
the Apple IIe and IIc personal computers as well as in medical
implantable grade pacemakers and defibrilators, automotive, industrial
and consumer devices. WDC pioneered the licensing of microprocessor
designs, later followed by ARM and other microprocessor Intellectual
Property (IP) providers in the 1990s.
Motorola introduced the MC6809 in 1978, an ambitious and thought-
through 8-bit design source compatible with the 6800 and implemented
using purely hard-wired logic. (Subsequent 16-bit microprocessors
typically used microcode to some extent, as CISC design requirements
were getting too complex for purely hard-wired logic only.)
Another early 8-bit microprocessor was the Signetics 2650, which
enjoyed a brief surge of interest due to its innovative and
powerful instruction set architecture.
A seminal microprocessor in the world of spaceflight was RCA's RCA
1802 (aka CDP1802, RCA COSMAC) (introduced in 1976), which was
used onboard the Galileo probe to Jupiter (launched 1989, arrived
1995). RCA COSMAC was the first to implement CMOS technology. The
CDP1802 was used because it could be run at very low power, and
because a variant was available fabricated using a special production
process (Silicon on Sapphire), providing much better protection
against cosmic radiation and electrostatic discharges than that of any
other processor of the era. Thus, the SOS version of the 1802 was said
to be the first radiation-hardened microprocessor.
The RCA 1802 had what is called a static design, meaning that the clock
frequency could be made arbitrarily low, even to 0 Hz, a total stop
condition. This let the Galileo spacecraft use minimum electric power for
long uneventful stretches of a voyage. Timers and/or sensors would
awaken/improve the performance of the processor in time for important
tasks, such as navigation updates, attitude control, data acquisition, and
radio communication.
[edit]12-bit designs
The Intersil 6100 family consisted of a 12-bit microprocessor (the 6100)
and a range of peripheral support and memory ICs. The microprocessor
recognised the DEC PDP-8 minicomputerinstruction set. As such it was
sometimes referred to as the CMOS-PDP8. Since it was also produced
by Harris Corporation, it was also known as the Harris HM-6100. By
virtue of its CMOS technology and associated benefits, the 6100 was
being incorporated into some military designs until the early 1980s.
[edit]16-bit designs
The first multi-chip 16-bit microprocessor was the National
Semiconductor IMP-16, introduced in early 1973. An 8-bit version of the
chipset was introduced in 1974 as the IMP-8.
Other early multi-chip 16-bit microprocessors include one used by Digital
Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the LSI-11 OEM board set and the
packaged PDP 11/03 minicomputer, and theFairchild
Semiconductor MicroFlame 9440, both of which were introduced in the
1975 to 1976 timeframe.
In 1975, National introduced the first 16-bit single-chip microprocessor,
the National Semiconductor PACE, which was later followed by
an NMOS version, the INS8900.
Another early single-chip 16-bit microprocessor was TI's TMS 9900,
which was also compatible with their TI-990 line of minicomputers. The
9900 was used in the TI 990/4 minicomputer, the TI-99/4A home
computer, and the TM990 line of OEM microcomputer boards. The chip
was packaged in a large ceramic 64-pin DIP package, while most 8-bit
microprocessors such as the Intel 8080 used the more common, smaller,
and less expensive plastic 40-pin DIP. A follow-on chip, the TMS 9980,
was designed to compete with the Intel 8080, had the full TI 990 16-bit
instruction set, used a plastic 40-pin package, moved data 8 bits at a
time, but could only address 16 KB. A third chip, the TMS 9995, was a
new design. The family later expanded to include the 99105 and 99110.
The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC) introduced the
CMOS 65816 16-bit upgrade of the WDC CMOS 65C02 in 1984. The
65816 16-bit microprocessor was the core of the Apple IIgsand later
the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, making it one of the most
popular 16-bit designs of all time.
Intel followed a different path, having no minicomputers to emulate, and
instead "upsized" their 8080 design into the 16-bit Intel 8086, the first
member of the x86 family, which powers most modern PC type
computers. Intel introduced the 8086 as a cost effective way of porting
software from the 8080 lines, and succeeded in winning much business
on that premise. The 8088, a version of the 8086 that used an external
8-bit data bus, was the microprocessor in the first IBM PC, the model
5150. Following up their 8086 and 8088, Intel released
the80186, 80286 and, in 1985, the 32-bit 80386, cementing their PC
market dominance with the processor family's backwards compatibility.
The 8086 and 80186 had a crude method of segmentation, while the
80286 introduced a full-featured segmented memory management
unit (MMU), and the 80386 introduced a flat 32-bit memory model with
paged memory management.
[edit]32-bit designs

Upper interconnect layers on an Intel 80486DX2 die.

16-bit designs had only been on the market briefly when 32-bit
implementations started to appear.
The most significant of the 32-bit designs is the MC68000, introduced in
1979. The 68K, as it was widely known, had 32-bit registers but used 16-
bit internal data paths and a 16-bit external data bus to reduce pin count,
and supported only 24-bit addresses. Motorola generally described it as
a 16-bit processor, though it clearly has 32-bit architecture. The
combination of high performance, large (16 megabytes or 224bytes)
memory space and fairly low cost made it the most popular CPU design
of its class. The Apple Lisa and Macintosh designs made use of the
68000, as did a host of other designs in the mid-1980s, including
the Atari ST and Commodore Amiga.
The world's first single-chip fully-32-bit microprocessor, with 32-bit data
paths, 32-bit buses, and 32-bit addresses, was the AT&T Bell
LabsBELLMAC-32A, with first samples in 1980, and general production
in 1982[26][27] After the divestiture of AT&T in 1984, it was renamed the
WE 32000 (WE for Western Electric), and had two follow-on
generations, the WE 32100 and WE 32200. These microprocessors
were used in theAT&T 3B5 and 3B15 minicomputers; in the 3B2, the
world's first desktop supermicrocomputer; in the "Companion", the
world's first 32-bit laptop computer; and in "Alexander", the world's first
book-sized supermicrocomputer, featuring ROM-pack memory
cartridges similar to today's gaming consoles. All these systems ran
the UNIX System V operating system.
Intel's first 32-bit microprocessor was the iAPX 432, which was
introduced in 1981 but was not a commercial success. It had an
advancedcapability-based object-oriented architecture, but poor
performance compared to contemporary architectures such as Intel's
own 80286 (introduced 1982), which was almost four times as fast on
typical benchmark tests. However, the results for the iAPX432 was partly
due to a rushed and therefore suboptimal Ada compiler.
The ARM first appeared in 1985. This is a RISC processor design, which
has since come to dominate the 32-bit embedded systems processor
space due in large part to its power efficiency, its licensing model, and its
wide selection of system development tools. Semiconductor
manufacturers generally license cores such as the ARM11 and integrate
them into their own system on a chip products; only a few such vendors
are licensed to modify the ARM cores. Most cell phones include an ARM
processor, as do a wide variety of other products. There are
microcontroller-oriented ARM cores without virtual memory support, as
well as SMP applications processors with virtual memory.
Motorola's success with the 68000 led to the MC68010, which added
virtual memory support. The MC68020, introduced in 1985 added full 32-
bit data and address busses. The 68020 became hugely popular in
the Unix supermicrocomputer market, and many small companies (e.g.,
Altos, Charles River Data Systems) produced desktop-size systems.
The MC68030was introduced next, improving upon the previous design
by integrating the MMU into the chip. The continued success led to
the MC68040, which included an FPU for better math performance. A
68050 failed to achieve its performance goals and was not released, and
the follow-up MC68060 was released into a market saturated by much
faster RISC designs. The 68K family faded from the desktop in the early
1990s.
Other large companies designed the 68020 and follow-ons into
embedded equipment. At one point, there were more 68020s in
embedded equipment than there were Intel Pentiums in PCs.
[28]
 The ColdFire processor cores are derivatives of the venerable 68020.
During this time (early to mid-1980s), National Semiconductor introduced
a very similar 16-bit pinout, 32-bit internal microprocessor called the NS
16032 (later renamed 32016), the full 32-bit version named the NS
32032. Later the NS 32132 was introduced which allowed two CPUs to
reside on the same memory bus, with built in arbitration. The
NS32016/32 outperformed the MC68000/10 but the NS32332 which
arrived at approximately the same time the MC68020 did not have
enough performance. The third generation chip, the NS32532 was
different. It had about double the performance of the MC68030 which
was released around the same time. The appearance of RISC
processors like the AM29000 and MC88000 (now both dead) influenced
the architecture of the final core, the NS32764. Technically advanced,
using a superscalar RISC core, internally overclocked, with a 64 bit bus,
it was still capable of executing Series 32000 instructions through real
time translation.
When National Semiconductor decided to leave the Unix market, the
chip was redesigned into the Swordfish Embedded processor with a set
of on chip peripherals. The chip turned out to be too expensive for
the laser printer market and was killed. The design team went to Intel
and there designed the Pentium processor which is very similar to the
NS32764 core internally The big success of the Series 32000 was in the
laser printer market, where the NS32CG16 with microcoded BitBlt
instructions had very good price/performance and was adopted by large
companies like Canon. By the mid-1980s, Sequent introduced the first
symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) server-class computer using the NS
32032. This was one of the design's few wins, and it disappeared in the
late 1980s. The MIPS R2000 (1984) and R3000 (1989) were highly
successful 32-bit RISC microprocessors. They were used in high-end
workstations and servers by SGI, among others. Other designs included
the interesting Zilog Z80000, which arrived too late to market to stand a
chance and disappeared quickly.
In the late 1980s, "microprocessor wars" started killing off some of the
microprocessors. Apparently, with only one major design win, Sequent,
the NS 32032 just faded out of existence, and Sequent switched
to Intel microprocessors.
From 1985 to 2003, the 32-bit x86 architectures became increasingly
dominant in desktop, laptop, and server markets, and these
microprocessors became faster and more capable. Intel had licensed
early versions of the architecture to other companies, but declined to
license the Pentium, so AMD and Cyrix built later versions of the
architecture based on their own designs. During this span, these
processors increased in complexity (transistor count) and capability
(instructions/second) by at least three orders of magnitude. Intel's
Pentium line is probably the most famous and recognizable 32-bit
processor model, at least with the public at large.
[edit]64-bit designs in personal computers
While 64-bit microprocessor designs have been in use in several
markets since the early 1990s, the early 2000s saw the introduction of
64-bit microprocessors targeted at the PC market.
With AMD's introduction of a 64-bit architecture backwards-compatible
with x86, x86-64 (also called AMD64), in September 2003, followed by
Intel's near fully compatible 64-bit extensions (first called IA-32e or
EM64T, later renamed Intel 64), the 64-bit desktop era began. Both
versions can run 32-bit legacy applications without any performance
penalty as well as new 64-bit software. With operating systems Windows
XP x64, Windows Vista x64, Windows 7 x64, Linux, BSD and Mac OS
X that run 64-bit native, the software is also geared to fully utilize the
capabilities of such processors. The move to 64 bits is more than just an
increase in register size from the IA-32 as it also doubles the number of
general-purpose registers.
The move to 64 bits by PowerPC processors had been intended since
the processors' design in the early 90s and was not a major cause of
incompatibility. Existing integer registers are extended as are all related
data pathways, but, as was the case with IA-32, both floating point and
vector units had been operating at or above 64 bits for several years.
Unlike what happened when IA-32 was extended to x86-64, no new
general purpose registers were added in 64-bit PowerPC, so any
performance gained when using the 64-bit mode for applications making
no use of the larger address space is minimal.
[edit]Multicore designs

Niagara 8 Core Processor

Main article: Multi-core (computing)

A different approach to improving a computer's performance is to add
extra processors, as in symmetric multiprocessing designs, which have
been popular in servers and workstations since the early 1990s. Keeping
up with Moore's Law is becoming increasingly challenging as chip-
making technologies approach the physical limits of the technology.
In response, the microprocessor manufacturers look for other ways to
improve performance, in order to hold on to the momentum of constant
upgrades in the market.
A multi-core processor is simply a single chip containing more than one
microprocessor core, effectively multiplying the potential performance
with the number of cores (as long as the operating system and software
is designed to take advantage of more than one processor). Some
components, such as bus interface and second level cache, may be
shared between cores. Because the cores are physically very close they
interface at much faster clock rates compared to discrete multiprocessor
systems, improving overall system performance.
In 2005, the first personal computer dual-core processors were
announced and as of 2009 dual-core and quad-core processors are
widely used in servers, workstations and PCs while six and eight-core
processors will be available for high-end applications in both the home
and professional environments.
Sun Microsystems has released the Niagara and Niagara 2 chips, both
of which feature an eight-core design. The Niagara 2 supports more
threads and operates at 1.6 GHz.
High-end Intel Xeon processors that are on the LGA771 socket are DP
(dual processor) capable, as well as the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775
also used in the Mac Pro by Apple and the Intel Skulltrail motherboard.
With the transition to the LGA1366 and LGA1156 socket and the Intel i7
and i5 chips, quad core is now considered mainstream, but with the
release of the i7-980x, six core processors are now well within reach.
[edit]RISC

Main article: Reduced instruction set computing

In the mid-1980s to early-1990s, a crop of new high-performance
Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessors appeared,
influenced by discrete RISC-like CPU designs such as the IBM 801 and
others. RISC microprocessors were initially used in special-purpose
machines and Unix workstations, but then gained wide acceptance in
other roles.
In 1986, HP released its first system with a PA-RISC CPU. The first
commercial RISC microprocessor design was released either by MIPS
Computer Systems, the 32-bit R2000 (the R1000 was not released) or
by Acorn computers, the 32-bit ARM2 in 1987.[citation needed] The R3000
made the design truly practical, and the R4000 introduced the world's
first commercially available 64-bit RISC microprocessor. Competing
projects would result in the IBM POWER and Sun SPARC architectures.
Soon every major vendor was releasing a RISC design, including
the AT&T CRISP, AMD 29000, Intel i860 and Intel i960, Motorola 88000,
DEC Alpha.
As of 2007, two 64-bit RISC architectures are still produced in volume for
non-embedded applications: SPARC and Power ISA.
[edit]Special-purpose designs
A microprocessor is a general purpose system. Several specialized
processing devices have followed from the
technology. Microcontrollers integrate a microprocessor with periphal
devices for control of embedded system. A digital signal
processor (DSP) is specialized for signal processing. Graphics
processing units may have no, limited, or general programming facilities.
For example, GPUs through the 1990s were mostly non-programmable
and have only recently gained limited facilities like programmable vertex
shaders.
[edit]Market statistics
In 2003, about $44 billion (USD) worth of microprocessors were
manufactured and sold.[29] 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.[30]
About 55% of all CPUs sold in the world are 8-bit microcontrollers, over
two billion of which were sold in 1997.[31]
As of 2002, less than 10% of all the CPUs sold in the world are 32-bit or
more. Of all the 32-bit CPUs sold, about 2% are used in desktop or
laptop personal computers. Most microprocessors are used in
embedded control applications such as household appliances,
automobiles, and computer peripherals. Taken as a whole, the average
price for a microprocessor, microcontroller, or DSP is just over $6.[30]
About ten billion CPUs were manufactured in 2008. About 98% of new
CPUs produced each year are embedded.[32]
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