Released in September 1989 by Intel, the legendary 486 CPU enjoyed widespread popularity in numerous PCs for many years before being gradually replaced by the Pentium and its successors. This era profoundly influenced the entire CPU industry for decades. Up until then, only Intel designed x86 microarchitectures, allowing third parties like AMD to produce Intel’s intellectual property in their own fabs. However, in the first half of the 1990s, new CPU manufacturers emerged with their own 486-comp...