x86

x86 is a family of instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was introduced in 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit 8080 microprocessor, with memory segmentation as a solution for addressing more memory than can be covered by a plain 16-bit address. The term 'x86' came into being because the names of several successors to Intel's 8086 processor end in '86', including the 80186, 80286, 80386 and 80486 processors. Many additions and extensions have been added to the x86 instruction set over the years, almost consistently with full backward compatibility. The architecture has been implemented in processors from Intel, Cyrix, AMD, VIA and many other companies; there are also open implementations, such as the Zet SoC platform. Nevertheless, of those, only Intel, AMD, and VIA hold x86 architectural licenses, and are producing modern 64-bit designs. The term is not synonymous with IBM PC compatibility, as this implies a multitude of other computer hardware; embedded systems, as well as general-purpose computers, used x86 chips before the PC-compatible market started, some of them before the IBM PC (1981) itself. As of 2018, the majority of personal computers and laptops sold are based on the x86 architecture, while other categories—especially high-volume mobile categories such as smartphones or tablets—are dominated by ARM; at the high end, x86 continues to dominate compute-intensive workstation and cloud computing segments. In the 1980s and early 1990s, when the 8088 and 80286 were still in common use, the term x86 usually represented any 8086 compatible CPU. Today, however, x86 usually implies a binary compatibility also with the 32-bit instruction set of the 80386. This is due to the fact that this instruction set has become something of a lowest common denominator for many modern operating systems and probably also because the term became common after the introduction of the 80386 in 1985. A few years after the introduction of the 8086 and 8088, Intel added some complexity to its naming scheme and terminology as the 'iAPX' of the ambitious but ill-fated Intel iAPX 432 processor was tried on the more successful 8086 family of chips, applied as a kind of system-level prefix. An 8086 system, including coprocessors such as 8087 and 8089, as well as simpler Intel-specific system chips, was thereby described as an iAPX 86 system. There were also terms iRMX (for operating systems), iSBC (for single-board computers), and iSBX (for multimodule boards based on the 8086-architecture) – all together under the heading Microsystem 80. However, this naming scheme was quite temporary, lasting for a few years during the early 1980s. Although the 8086 was primarily developed for embedded systems and small multi-user or single-user computers, largely as a response to the successful 8080-compatible Zilog Z80, the x86 line soon grew in features and processing power. Today, x86 is ubiquitous in both stationary and portable personal computers, and is also used in midrange computers, workstations, servers and most new supercomputer clusters of the TOP500 list. A large amount of software, including a large list of x86 operating systems are using x86-based hardware.