General Instrument CP1600 - Uses

Uses

The CP1610, used in the Intellivision, was essentially a "de-tuned" CP1600 with several simplifications. In the Intellivision, the CP1610 ran at 894 kHz to match NTSC signals, or 1 MHz for PAL/SECAM versions. Although users of the CP1600 in the traditional computer role were relatively rare, over 3 million Intellivisions were produced from 1980 until the video game crash of 1983 led to the closing of the Intellivision production lines in 1984.

Production of the CP1600 ended in 1985 when General Instruments spun off its microelectronics division to create Microchip Technology. By this point a number of 32-bit designs like the MC68000 were available that limited interest in a 16-bit design like the CP1600, and their main existing customer, the Intellivision, was no longer in production. Many other products were also end-of-lifed at the same time, and their primary product was the PIC.