After almost 50 years the Z80 microprocessor will no longer be produced

The legendary Zilog Z80an 8-bit microprocessor marketed since July 1976, will no longer be produced.

This microprocessor has been used in numerous systems, including home computers, arcade games, and game consoles.

The Techspot website recalls that it was developed by Federico Faggin: after working on the 8080, he left Intel at the end of 1974 due to differences with the management which at the time was focused on the production of memory chips and considered microprocessors only as accessory products.

Zilog said in a statement that Wafer Foundry Manufacturer (WFM) will accept the last orders in mid-June, and that the last productions will be processed based on requests, and that minimum and maximum order quantities may be imposed.

Created by a team of just 12 people, the Z80 proved to be a remarkable success, allowing Zilog to create its own manufacturing facilities, and grow to more than a thousand employees in two years. Like the Intel 4004, the Z80 was also designed for embedded systems but from the late 70s to the mid 80s it was a milestone in gaming hardware, exploited by many home computers and consoles of the time, devices built around the possibilities offered by the Z80, including names like Sega Master System, SG-1000, Game Boy and Nintendo’s Game Boy Color. Many arcade games also used the Z80, including the original version of Pacman. The use of the Z80 is also very common in the military sector and in musical synthesizers such as Roland Jupiter-8 and others.

Zilog also tried to market minicomputer versions of the Z80 architecture, the Z800 and the Z280, but they were not as successful as their predecessor.

Zilog has licensed the Z80 technology to US companies such as Synertek and Mostek, and in Europe to SGS/STMicroelectronics. The CPU has been replicated by Japanese, Eastern European, and Soviet manufacturers, and companies such as NEC, Toshiba, Sharp, and Hitachi have produced compatible versions of the chip.

In recent years, the Z80 has been exploited in embedded devices, but also office equipment (faxes, answering machines, photocopiers), industrial controllers, credit card terminals and many other areas.