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Zilog




ZiLOG, often seen as '''Zilog''', is a manufacturer of 8-bit CPU s, and is most famous for its Intel 8080 -compatible Z80 series. Zilog was incorporated in California in 1974 by Federico Faggin , who left Intel after working on the 8080, and the Z80 was a vast improvement over it (it was faster, etc.).
The Z80 was a best seller because it was much cheaper than the 8080. It was used in the Nintendo Game Boy and many Texas Instruments Graphing Calculator s as the main Processor and in some newer game consoles as a Secondary Processor , like the Mega Drive .

After the Z80 Zilog introduced 16-bit and 32-bit processors, but these were not particularly successful, and the company refocused on the Microcontroller market, producing both basic CPUs and Application-specific Integrated Circuits/standard Product s (ASICs/ASSPs) built around a CPU core. As well as producing processors, Zilog has produced several other components. One of the most famous was the Z8530 serial communications controller as found on Sun SPARCstation s and SPARCserver s up to the SPARCstation 20.

The company became a Subsidiary of Exxon in 1980 , but the management and employees bought it back in 1989 . It went public in 1991 , but was acquired in 1998 by Texas Pacific Group , who, after chip prices plummeted, reorganized the company in a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in late 2001 .


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