AMD Am9080

AMD Am9080

General information
Launched	1975
Marketed by	AMD
Designed by	Intel
Common manufacturer	AMD
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate	2 MHz to 4 MHz
Data width	8 bits
Address width	16 bits
Physical specifications
Transistors	4,500 or 6000
Cores	1
Package	40-pin DIP
Socket	DIP40
Architecture and classification
Technology node	6 µm
Instruction set	8080
History
SuccessorTemplate:Pluralize from text	Am8086
Support status
Unsupported

The Am9080 was a CPU manufactured by AMD. Originally produced without license as a clone of the Intel 8080, the processor was reverse-engineered by Ashawna Hailey, Kim Hailey and Jay Kumar. The Haileys photographed a pre-production sample Intel 8080 on their last day in Xerox, and developed a schematic and logic diagrams from the ~400 images. It was in the summer of 1973. They went to Silicon Valley to see if anyone was interested. AMD was interested since they had just developed a N-channel MOS process. In initial production, the chips cost about 50 cents to make, yielding 100 chips per wafer, and were sold into the military market for $700 each. This CPU operated at a speed of 2 MHz. Later, an agreement was made with Intel to become a licensed second source for the 8080, enabling both manufacturers' chips to break into markets that would not accept a single-sourced part.

There are 13 variants in the Am9080 family, with clock period ranging from 250 ns to 480 ns. They were also named 8080A.

It was used in AMC 95/4000, result of a joint venture with Siemens.