Intel 8008 - The First 8-bit Microprocessor, D8008, NOS, Barbados
About this chip
This listing is for a rare new-old-stock Intel 8008 microprocessor. The chip offered here is a fully functional Intel D8008s. The chip was made during the 5th week of 1981 in Barbados. The 18 leads are tin and the body is gray ceramic. These chips would be a great addition to your microprocessor collection.
Please note: The chip pictured is the chip you will receive.
About the Intel 8008
The Intel 8008 was the world’s first 8-bit microprocessor. Work on the 8008, originally named the 1201, first started at Intel as early as 1969, however it was not brought to market until April of 1972. The 8008 is architecturally very different than the 4-bit 4004 microprocessor. The 8008 was a major step forward in the development of a general purpose microprocessor. The Intel 8008 was used in the Scelbi-8H, Intellec-8, and Mark-8 microcomputers, some of the first microprocessor-based computers. The 8008 was also used in calculators, traffic systems, and automation control systems.
The Intel 8008 was the world’s first 8-bit microprocessor. The 8008, originally named the 1201, was created for Control Terminal Corporation (CTC), now know as Datapoint. CTC had a CPU, the Datapoint 2200, with a processor designed with TTL logic chips. CTC solicited Intel and Texas Instruments for a single chip version of CTC's CPU design. TI never got their chip to production. Intel’s 8008 was too late for CTC to use, but Intel continued development and decided to market the 8008 alongside the Intel 4004. The architecture, assembler mnemonics, and even binary opcodes of the CTC 2200 and the 8008 are identical (except for an increment instruction added to the 8008). Work actually began on the 8008 before the 4004 and had circumstances been different the 8008 could have been the first microprocessor. Early proposals for the 8008 were put together by Ted Hoff and Stan Mazor. Hal Feeney was the lead designer, under Federico Faggin’s supervision.
The 8008 is architecturally very different than the 4004. The 4004 was a Harvard architecture, addressing data (5,120 bits) and instructions (4096 bits) in separate address spaces. The 8008 was a Princeton architecture, addressing both data and instructions in the same address space, which was 16KB. Despite these architectural differences, actual chip layout of these two processors is very similar. Major components such as the Arithmetic and Logic Unit (upper left) and processor registers (lower left) are in the same locations.
The 8008 was a very important transition CPU for Intel. The work on the 8008 enabled the creation of the much more powerful Intel 8080 (which included much of the 8008 instruction set). The 8008, not the 4004, is really the beginning of the Intel x86 instruction set.