If you’re using a PC today, chances are you’re using a processor that you can trace back to the Intel 8088 processor. The Intel 8088 was released 44 years ago, in June 1979. However, we would have to wait a while longer for the real impact of this chip on the PC industry.
According to the company’s own website, the technical specifications of the Intel 8088 were as follows:
- Operating speed – 8 MHz, 4.77 MHz
- Manufacturing process – 3 micron
- Number of transistors – 29,000
- Addressable Memory – 64 kb
- Bus Speed - 8 MHz, 4.77 MHz
The Intel 8088 was actually a slightly different version of the Intel 8086 that was released a year ago in June 1978. Both chips had 16-bit registers. The key difference between the two CPUs was that the 8086 chip had a 16-bit bus while the 8088 only had an 8-bit bus. This small difference would be the main reason for the 8088 to be used more widely in the future.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the personal computer industry was just forming. Companies like Apple, Commodore, Tandy, and even video game console maker Atari were selling their own computer models. IBM, previously known for its huge central processing units for large corporations, decided to enter this new market and launch its own personal computer.
IBM and Intel partnership
Rather than designing its first computer entirely on its own, IBM turned to third parties to assist it. IBM made this decision because it would be able to bring a personal computer to market much faster than if it did everything in-house.
As IBM’s site states, “They went to Microsoft for the operating system (QDOS was renamed PC-DOS and later sold as MS-DOS by Microsoft) and to Intel for the 8088 processor. He chose an existing monitor from IBM Japan and a dot matrix printer from Epson. Only the keyboard and system unit were IBM’s own new designs.”
Why did IBM choose the Intel 8088 processor?
While there is some debate as to why IBM chose the Intel 8088 processor for its first personal computer, there are two remarkable claims. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in an interview with PC Magazine in 1997 that he and fellow co-founder Paul Allen forced IBM to use a 16-bit processor.
But David Bradley, who helped put together the first IBM PC, tells a different story in an article he wrote for Byte in 1990. There were four main reasons for choosing the Intel 8088, Bradley said:
- The 64K byte address limit had to be exceeded. This requirement meant that a 16-bit microprocessor had to be used.
- The processor and peripherals needed to be available immediately. There was no time to develop a new LSI chip, and production lead times meant that supply had to be supplied immediately.
- They were not in a position to go through a long learning process, they had to use a technology they knew. And they needed a rich set of support chipsets – they wanted a system with a DMA controller, interrupt controller, timers, and parallel ports.
- There had to be both an operating system and application software for the processor.
Bradley said that IBM’s final decision on the 8088 instead of the 8086 was for the familiar reason, helping to make the PC cheaper. “We chose the 8088 because of the 8-bit bus. The smaller bus saved RAM, ROM and logic space for the simple system.”
The first IBM personal computer was released on August 12, 1981, priced at $1,565. It soon became a huge success, spawning not only more IBM PC models, but also PCs made by other companies that were clones of the IBM product. All of these used different versions of Intel’s x86 chip line.
The 13th Gen Intel Core processors the company sells today can be traced back to the original 8088 model. The company is currently preparing to introduce its next chip architecture, Meteor Lake, and has also kicked off the very early development stages of a 64-bit-only CPU.
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