Forty years ago, Intel released the 8086 processor, introducing the x86 architecture that underlies every PC—Windows, Mac, or Linux—produced today.

Initially, the 8086 was intended to be a stopgap product while Intel worked feverishly to finish its real next-generation microprocessor -- the iAPX 432, Intel's first 32-bit microprocessor.

An iconic processor for an iconic PC. The Intel 8088 Micro-processor ran at 5MHz, representing a 50-times speed boost against the 4004 chip eight years before, and it included 29,000 transistors ...

From the 8086 through the 186, 286, 386, 486 and various Pentium models, ... Intel's x86 microprocessor architecture has dominated large swaths of computing for three decades.

For any given processor it’s generally easy to find a statistic on the number of transistors used to construct it, with the famous Intel 8086 CPU generally said to contain 29,000 transistors.… ...

1978: Intel introduces the 16-bit 8086 microprocessor. It will become an industry standard. 1979: Intel introduces a lower-cost version of the 8086, the 8088, with an 8-bit bus.

Forty-two years ago today, Intel launched the original 8086 microprocessor -- the grandfather of every x86 CPU ever built, including the ones we use now.

Thirty years ago, on June 8, 1978, Intel Corp. introduced its first 16-bit microprocessor, the 8086, with a splashy ad heralding "the dawn of a new era." Overblown? Sure, but also prophetic. While ...