In the 1950s, computer technology was quite primitive. Each computer design was unique, and programs written for one machine would run on no other kind, even others kinds from the same company. Most computers of the time used a base-10 system, instead of base-2 (binary) as is common today. They typically used ten vacuum tubes per digit in each processor register.
In an attempt to increase customer loyalty, IBM created a family of computers that could all run the same software but with different performances and at different prices in 1962 by designing the System/360 reference instruction set. Cheaper machines would have a simple, slower processor while more expensive ones would have a much more complex, faster processor. The instruction set was designed to manipulate simple binary numbers, and text, scientific floating-point, and the binary coded decimal arithmetic needed by accounting systems. This basic set of features is now called complex instruction set computing (CISC).
In the 1960s, integrated circuits became more economical and practical, resulting in the invention of the microprocessor, a single-chip CPU. The Intel 4004 was the first commercial microprocessor, and it was released in 1971. The 4004 was a collaborative effort between the Japanese calculator company Busicom and Intel, which was more of a memory company at the time. It had 2,300 transistors, performed 60,000 operations per second, addressed 640 bytes of memory, and cost $200.
As transistors continued to cheapen, Intel released the 8008 processor on April 1, 1972. It had an 8-bit architecture, as opposed to the 4-bit 4004. The Intel 8080 was introduced on April 1, 1974, and it was the basis for the 8086, released on June 8, 1976. The 8086 was a direct ancestor to today's ubiquitous x86 family, which includes Pentium and Core i7.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/technology/central-processing-unit\
https://www.computerhope.com/history/processor.htm
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