Intel 8086

A rare Intel C8086 processor in purple ceramic DIP package with side-brazed pins

The Intel 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor of the late 1970s. It was the precessor of the Intel 8088, which was a popular processor in the 1980s. The design is based on the architecture of the 8080 and 8085, which were 8 bit processors Intel made in the 1970s. The 8086 lacks a few functions, which had to be added with external chips. It also lacks the ability to do floating-point calculations. This was commonly added with the 8087 chip. The IBM PC, released in the 1980s, used an 8088 chip. Amstrad built clones, which used the 8086 chip.