Launched in 1979, Intel's 8088 was a version of the previous year's 16-bit 8086, but which had only an 8-bit data bus. This made it cheaper to build around, but also slower, as each read required two fetches on the bus.

Despite the drawbacks, the 8088 - which was less expensive than the 8086 and which was also broadly compatible with existing and well-tested 8-bit 8085-based support chips - was the CPU eventually chosen by IBM for its 5150 IBM PC. The rest, as they say, is history.