The 8086 (also called iAPX 86) is a 16-bit microprocessor chip released by Intel on June 8, 1978 after development began in early 1976. It was followed by the Intel 8088 in 1979, which was a slightly modified chip with an external 8-bit data bus (allowing the use of cheaper and fewer supporting ICs).
The 8086 gave rise to the x86 architecture, which eventually became Intel's most successful line of processors. On June 5, 2018, Intel released a limited-edition CPU celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Intel 8086, called the Intel Core i7-8086K.