New options from big chips

The 16-bit 8086 microprocessor introduces to MOS digital design some speed-up techniques well-known to computer architects. Limits on the die size barred these techniques in the past, but with new MOS processes, transistor packing densities are sufficent to use them. As a result, we have been able to design significantly improved performance into the 16-bit 8086 without relying totally on the faster circuits allowed by the new MOS processes.