Intel is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of the legendary Intel 8080 processor. On this occasion, the manufacturer shared the history of its creation and also recalled the first devices that used this chip.
The Intel 8080 didn’t just revolutionize microprocessors—it created the microprocessor market, Intel says. “The 4004 and 8008 offered it, but the 8080 made it a reality,” says Federico Faggin, chief designer of the Intel 8080 and its predecessors, the 4004 and 8008. Until the launch of the Intel 8080 chip in 1974, the company primarily produced chips for specific customer orders. Although the 4004 and 8008 were subsequently used in applications beyond their original application, versatility was not the original goal of their development. For example, the 4004 was originally created for Busicom’s 141-PF printing calculator, and the 8008 was originally created for Computer Terminal Corporation’s Datapoint 2200 programmable terminal.
Faggin developed the 8080 in response to customer feedback on the 8008, who complained of design limitations that hampered scalability and made software development difficult. The new 8-bit processor was more efficient, powerful and flexible: it could perform 290,000 operations per second (10 times more than the 8008). With its 40-pin configuration, it made connections to other components easier than the 8008’s 18-pin design. The Intel 8080 also gained support for utility functions that the 4004 and 8008 lacked, making it a true single-chip microprocessor.
Busicom invested $60,000 in Intel to develop the 4004 processor for its own use, reflecting the chip design norms of the time. But everything changed with the advent of the 8080 and its flexibility. Now customers have a golden opportunity: spend $360 and program the processor to perform almost any task. The 8080 proved that a powerful general-purpose processor could run an unlimited number of applications and meet the needs of countless customers, fueling mass adoption of personal computing, the creation of new categories of silicon-based devices, and the rise of programming as an in-demand skill.
Intel claims that the 8080’s genetics are still present in processors used around the world because it was the chip that inspired the development of the x86 architecture, which has become the world’s most widely used architecture. Today, Intel processors are used in home computers, cars, cell towers, digital signs, data centers, and a variety of connected devices. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Intel 8080, the company organized an exhibition at the Intel Museum in Santa Clara (California, USA), where functional devices based on the Intel 8080 are presented. Among the exhibits are several of the earliest implementations of the 8080 and their modern analogues based on Intel silicon.
Hugin Model 150 cash registers from the Swedish company Hugin were among the first electronic cash registers to use Intel 8080 processors. Despite significant improvements over mechanical cash registers, early electronic devices had limited functionality and ran proprietary software. With the advent of the 8080, cash registers acquired computer-like functionality. Over time, they became more sophisticated, with digital displays, the ability to print receipts and read credit cards. Today, Intel Core i3 processors are used in many self-checkout and POS terminals.
The Intel 8080 became the basis for one of the first personal computers, the Altair 8800 from MITS. The system cost $439, making it much more affordable than the $30,000 commercial computers of the time that were used by entire teams. The Altair 8800 did not have a keyboard or monitor, and its owners required significant electronics knowledge, as the computer had to be assembled themselves.
50 years later, PCs look completely different and are much more powerful. The Intel 8080 processor ran at a maximum clock speed of 2 MHz, while the Intel Core Ultra Series 2 (Arrow Lake-S) desktop processors released this year reach a clock speed of 5.7 GHz (5700 MHz).
Gun Fight (also known as Western Gun) from Midway Games was the first commercially available arcade game to use a microprocessor instead of discrete logic. It was the Intel 8080. The game, where two cowboys of the Wild West fought a duel, gained enormous popularity. Thousands of slot machines featuring this game were sold in 1975–1976. In 1978, the Intel 8080 became the basis for another slot machine – Space Invaders from Midway Games.
Today, gamers have many more options. From PC and console games to virtual reality and mobile franchises, modern technology makes it possible to play anywhere and on anything.
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