Intel Puts the 386 and 486 Chips Out to Pasture

There was a time when PCs powered by Intel 386 and later by the 486 processors were the gold standards, the object of pride for those who owned them, and envy for those who could not afford to move up from their chip level. Not anymore.

Production of Intel’s beloved 386, 486 and the original RISC 1960 will be permanently discontinued. Although they will be still available in the market until September, 2007 and orders will be accepted until 30 March 2007, Intel claimed that forecasted demands for the products beyond 2007 are too low. Economics leave them “no choice” but to say good-bye to these chips.

“Intel has been manufacturing…the 386 and the 486 processor families for over 15 years now,” the company said, which would make the chips about 150 years old in robo-dog years. Other future inductees to the Technology Hall of Fossils are the MCS 51, MCS 251 and MCS 96 microcontrollers, the 186 chip family, and the i960 series of 32-bit RISC chips. May we have a few minutes of silence please…

There was a time when PCs powered by Intel 386 and later by the 486 processors were the gold standards, the object of pride for those who owned them, and envy for those who could not afford to move up from their chip level. Not anymore.

Production of Intel’s beloved 386, 486 and the original RISC 1960 will be permanently discontinued. Although they will be still available in the market until September, 2007 and orders will be accepted until 30 March 2007, Intel claimed that forecasted demands for the products beyond 2007 are too low. Economics leave them “no choice” but to say good-bye to these chips.

“Intel has been manufacturing…the 386 and the 486 processor families for over 15 years now,” the company said, which would make the chips about 150 years old in robo-dog years. Other future inductees to the Technology Hall of Fossils are the MCS 51, MCS 251 and MCS 96 microcontrollers, the 186 chip family, and the i960 series of 32-bit RISC chips. May we have a few minutes of silence please…