--- title: The Zilog Z80 has turned 50 | daily.dev description: A detailed retrospective on the Zilog Z80 processor's 50th anniversary, tracing the history from the Intel 8008 (derived from the Datapoint 2200 terminal... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-zilog-z80-has-turned-50-jvmbq4tlp twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Zilog Z80 has turned 50 | daily.dev og:description: A detailed retrospective on the Zilog Z80 processor's 50th anniversary, tracing the history from the Intel 8008 (derived from the Datapoint 2200 terminal... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-zilog-z80-has-turned-50-jvmbq4tlp og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/jvMBQ4Tlp.png og:image:alt: The Zilog Z80 has turned 50 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Zilog Z80 has turned 50 **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 16 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A detailed retrospective on the Zilog Z80 processor's 50th anniversary, tracing the history from the Intel 8008 (derived from the Datapoint 2200 terminal design) through the 8080, and finally to the Z80 itself. Covers the technical architecture of each chip — registers, interrupt handling, memory addressing, electrical requirements — alongside the business and personal stories behind their creation, including Federico Faggin's departure from Intel to found Zilog, the role of Exxon's investment, and why IBM chose the 8088 over a Zilog processor for the PC. The Z80 was finally discontinued in June 2024 after nearly 50 years of production. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Remembering The Zilog Z80 As It Turns Fifty Years Old](https://daily.dev/posts/remembering-the-zilog-z80-as-it-turns-fifty-years-old-okdyjqb4z) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Comparing the Z80 and 6502 to Their Relatives](https://daily.dev/posts/comparing-the-z80-and-6502-to-their-relatives-wt3slftl9) · Two Stop Bits · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [PicoZ80 Is A Drop-in Replacement For Everyone’s Favorite Zilog CPU](https://daily.dev/posts/picoz80-is-a-drop-in-replacement-for-everyone-s-favorite-zilog-cpu-j8ccr5mri) · Hackaday · 1 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded), [#assembly](https://daily.dev/tags/assembly) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-zilog-z80-has-turned-50-jvmbq4tlp) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Zilog Z80 has turned 50","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-zilog-z80-has-turned-50-jvmbq4tlp","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-zilog-z80-has-turned-50-jvmbq4tlp"},"datePublished":"2026-07-17T20:59:31.720Z","dateModified":"2026-07-17T21:04:39.661Z","description":"A detailed retrospective on the Zilog Z80 processor's 50th anniversary, tracing the history from the Intel 8008 (derived from the Datapoint 2200 terminal...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0_ODbtD2--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2008","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0_ODbtD2--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2008","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-zilog-z80-has-turned-50-jvmbq4tlp","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"architecture,embedded,assembly","timeRequired":"PT16M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Zilog Z80 has turned 50"}]} ```