Classic CPU 🖥 Z80 Is Now Discontinued

If, in the fast-moving IT world, a CPU continues to be sold for almost 50 years, it can rightly be described as the most successful processor in history. But now the legendary Z80 is really coming to the end of its life.

Alternative to the Intel 8080

Its manufacturer Zilog announced. that the processor will only be available for a few months. During this time the last orders will be processed, after which there will be no more new Z80s produced. From June onwards, the Wafer Foundry Manufacturer (WFM) will no longer accept new orders.

The Z80 was originally developed to be an alternative to the Intel 8080. Accordingly, software that was developed for the Intel chip could also run on the 8-bit competitor Zilogs without any changes – including the MS-DOS predecessor CP/M.

At that time, just 12 developers were responsible for the design of the chip. The processor was actually intended to be used primarily in embedded systems, but it quickly became popular in other areas as well. Several home computers and game consoles were built based on the Z80’s capabilities, including Sega’s Master System and SG-1000, as well as Nintendo’s Game Boy and Game Boy Color. And various arcade machines such as the original Pac-Man also rely on the chip.

GDR clones and more

Later, the Z80 was still available and was offered cheaply, so that many developers relied on the proven CPU if its performance was sufficient for the respective application. And in many systems, the chip no longer worked as a central processor, but rather took on secondary tasks – in the Neo-Geo game console, for example, it supported the Motorola 68000 main processor as a sound chip.

Various clones of the Z80 were also created over the years. For example, VEB Mikroelektronik “Karl Marx” Erfurt in the GDR manufactured the U880 without any license, which was essentially a direct replica. To this day, the Z80 is often used in education, as the chip allows you to achieve your first successes in assembler with relatively little learning effort.