The Intel 8080 microprocessor was the last CPU designed by Masatoshi Shima and Federico Faggin. This CPU was 10 times faster than the Intel 8008 issued in 1972 and the maximum memory size allowed was increased from 16KB to 64KB.
The 8080 was designed for running CP/M ( Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers), a mass-market Operating System created in 1974 by Gary Kildall of Digital Research.
The original 8080 was released in April 1974 and it was second sourced by many companies.
This was the first widely adopted 8-bit microprocessor, being used in many hobbyist computers of the late 1970s and early 1980s
The Altair 8800, based on the Intel 8080, was the first commercially successful home computer.
Various PC and Printers based on Intel 8080 and clones were produced until the mid-1980s.
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