Public domain ↗
Intel Pentium processor
- Year
- 1993
- Creator
- Intel design team
- Company
- Intel Corporation
- Location
- Santa Clara, California
- Room
- The Gold Rush ↗
Description
The Pentium is the fifth generation of the x86 microprocessors from Intel, and Intel started to ship it in March 1993. It could execute several instructions at the same time and added support for graphics and music.
Importance
The Pentium continued the Intel microprocessor business that started with the 4004, the first commercial microprocessor, in 1971. Early Pentium chips had a divide problem in the floating point unit, and lawsuits in 1994 said that Intel did not disclose it. In December 1994 Intel agreed to replace the chip for any owner who asked.
Interesting fact
Intel took a $475 million charge in the fourth quarter of 1994 to pay for the replacement of Pentium chips.
Sources
- This Day in History: Intel Begins Shipping Pentium Chip ↗Computer History Museum · 1993-03-22
- 1993 | Timeline of Computer History ↗Computer History Museum
- Intel Corporation annual report on Form 10-K for 1994 ↗U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission · 1995-03-28