The legendary Zilog Z80 CPU is being discontinued after nearly 50 years

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DanNeely

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https://www.techspot.com/news/10268...z80-microprocessor-after-almost-50-years.html

According to Zilog's notification, Wafer Foundry Manufacturer (WFM) will cease accepting "last time buy" (LTB) orders for the remaining Z80 products in mid-June. Zilog will process and schedule LTB orders for the Z80 based on customers' demand, while WFM will provide actual delivery dates thereafter. Depending on the overall LTB demand, the company may impose stricter requirements on minimum and maximum quantities.
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I wonder if it's due to demand falling below a threshold needed to sustain it, or the wafer maker retiring the ultra-legacy process it's being manufactured on.
 
DanNeely said:
https://www.techspot.com/news/10268...z80-microprocessor-after-almost-50-years.html



I wonder if it's due to demand falling below a threshold needed to sustain it, or the wafer maker retiring the ultra-legacy process it's being manufactured on.
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If I had to guess (and this really is just a guess) I'd suspect it's completely to do with the archaic process it's built on.

Remember during covid when nobody could get electronics, car manufacturers got hit hard. Couldn't get engine computers. Once they got going again, companies like TSMC weren't too keen on building their parts because they're also on legacy processes.

But Tesla did fine in that department because they were using newer process, 7nm I think.

Comes down to running these old processes takes way too much resources when you could be focusing on the more modern ones. Except with respect to automotive, their engineers had no experience with newer processes. They figured they didn't need to so the expertise was not there. Result was it took a LONG time to get those car electronics.
 
THRESHIN said:
If I had to guess (and this really is just a guess) I'd suspect it's completely to do with the archaic process it's built on.

Remember during covid when nobody could get electronics, car manufacturers got hit hard. Couldn't get engine computers. Once they got going again, companies like TSMC weren't too keen on building their parts because they're also on legacy processes.

But Tesla did fine in that department because they were using newer process, 7nm I think.

Comes down to running these old processes takes way too much resources when you could be focusing on the more modern ones. Except with respect to automotive, their engineers had no experience with newer processes. They figured they didn't need to so the expertise was not there. Result was it took a LONG time to get those car electronics.
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They use totally different fabs - the issue I suspect (and you're REALLY close imho) is that the old fabs are finally wearing out, and cost of maintaining them isn't justified given the reduced use of the older process. Might also be environmental concerns (fabs aren't clean), etc - so shut it down and build something new (or just shut it down).

COVID those old fab lines were booked up years in advance - when they cancelled their slot, someone else filtered forward into it. But you can't bump someone once they've moved up - so when they needed parts after all...
 
DanNeely said:
https://www.techspot.com/news/10268...z80-microprocessor-after-almost-50-years.html



I wonder if it's due to demand falling below a threshold needed to sustain it, or the wafer maker retiring the ultra-legacy process it's being manufactured on.
Click to expand...
I built my first computer (in 1978) based upon the z80 and the S100 bus. It was a tremendous learning experience designing and building boards for the system (lots of wire wrapping). Very fun times.

I've still got my copy of "the Z80 microcomputer handbook" by Willian Barden Jr.
 
The chip has been completely supplanted by the Z180.

It’s fully compatible with the Z80 while being cheaper on a newer node and far more capable.

There arent many reasons to continue selling the Z80 at this stage.
 
I was born in 1984. When I was a kid my dad showed me an old relic of a computer in his basement. He proudly proclaimed that he'd swapped the original 8080 processor with a Zilog Z80 at some point in the 70s. The machine had no disk. Instead, there were front-panel switches for programming assembly instructions directly into memory one bit at a time. It had capacitors the size of water bottles. There was an add-in clock card larger than modern motherboards. The chassis was already full of dust 40+ years ago.

You're telling me the processor he had in that museum piece is still being sold by the original manufacturer in 2024!? I get that we have a lot of antiquated infrastructure to maintain, but that totally blows my mind!
 
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Still have an Osborne-1 rocking a Z80, what a fantastic CPU for it's time.

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It is amazing that it has been manufactured for so long, and that so many applications have utilized it over the decades.
The end of an era, RIP you 8-bit beast. 🪦
 
The original Nintendo Game Boy used a custom z80. I don't know how many of those Nintendo sold, but it was a lot.
 
Here's a really good video that explains the creation of the Z80. You'll find the name Federico Faggin in a lot of products that we still use today, including Intel 8080, which big surprise is what the Z80 is based on. Talking about a guy who's responsible for the Intel 4004 as well as Synaptics the touchpads. Dude is a legend.


View: https://youtu.be/P1aqtfXUCEk?si=_fMUCLiYS9tk93vY
 
toast0 said:
Did you have a TI-8x graphing calculator? Most of those had a z80. (Not the TI-89 which was a 68k)
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Nope, only TIs I had was the family's fully-ish decked out ti99-4/a, and a TI Professor, might've been a hand me down, like the diapers, underware and other clothing my brother grew out of. At least I didn't get my sister's clothing......
 
Any prebuilt retro z80 systems out there with some form of bootable storage? CPM even.
 
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