X86

x86 is a series of computer microprocessor instruction set architectures based on the Intel 8086 CPU. The 8086 was introduced during 1978 as a fully 16-bit extension of Intel's 8-bit based 8080 microprocessor and also introduced memory segmentation to overcome the 16-bit addressing barrier of such designs. The term x86 derived from the fact that early successors to the 8086 also had names ending with "86". Many additions and extensions have been added to the x86 instruction set over the years, almost consistently with full backward compatibility. The architecture has been implemented in processors from Intel, Cyrix, Advanced Micro Devices, VIA, and many other companies.