page_title: Microprocessor
hierarchical_section_title: Microprocessor
caption_attribution_description: English: Macro shot of an Intel 80486DX2 die in its packaging. The actual size of the die in the center is 12×6.75 mm.
context_page_description: A microprocessor is an electronic component that is used by a computer to do its work. It is a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit chip containing millions of very small components including transistors, resistors, and diodes that work together. Some microprocessors in the 20th century required several chips. Microprocessors help to do everything from controlling elevators to searching the Web. Everything a computer does is described by instructions of computer programs, and microprocessors carry out these instructions many millions of times a second.
  Microprocessors were invented in the 1970s for use in embedded systems. The majority are still used that way, in such things as mobile phones, cars, military weapons, and home appliances. Some microprocessors are microcontrollers, so small and inexpensive that they are used to control very simple products like flashlights and greeting cards that play music when opened. A few especially powerful microprocessors are used in personal computers.
context_section_description: A microprocessor is an electronic component that is used by a computer to do its work. It is a central processing unit on a single integrated circuit chip containing millions of very small components including transistors, resistors, and diodes that work together. Some microprocessors in the 20th century required several chips. Microprocessors help to do everything from controlling elevators to searching the Web. Everything a computer does is described by instructions of computer programs, and microprocessors carry out these instructions many millions of times a second. 
  Microprocessors were invented in the 1970s for use in embedded systems.  The majority are still used that way, in such things as mobile phones, cars, military weapons, and home appliances.  Some microprocessors are microcontrollers, so small and inexpensive that they are used to control very simple products like flashlights and greeting cards that play music when opened.  A few especially powerful microprocessors are used in personal computers.
caption: The 80486 microprocessor, a kind of CPU from the 1990s
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