Developed by: Zilog
Launched: 1976

The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor with general-purpose register architecture.

It was launched in March 1976 by Zilog and became popular in the 1980s through computers such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, and MSX system computers.
It is one of the most successful processors on the market, with countless clone versions produced, and continues to be used extensively today in a multitude of embedded systems.

The Z80 was designed primarily by Federico Faggin, who worked at Intel as chief designer of the Intel 4004 and Intel 8080. When production ended in 1974, Federico Faggin left Intel, founded Zilog, and began working on the design of the Z80 based on the experience gained in creating the Intel 4004 and 8080 and based on the structure of the latter and some other integrated circuits. Masatoshi Shima, the principal designer of logic levels and transistors for the 4004 and 8080 under Faggin's supervision, joined the Zilog team. Two years later, the Z80 was on sale.

The Z80 was designed to be code-compatible with the Intel 8080, so that most programs for the 8080 could run on it, especially the CP/M operating system.