Definition: POWER CPU

(Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC CPU) A family of RISC-based CPUs that use the Power Architecture from IBM. The heart of IBM's midrange computer line (see Power Systems), as well as the Watson supercomputer, POWER chips are also used by Google and others. They share a common instruction set with PowerPC CPUs, which were developed by IBM, Apple and Motorola. Following is the evolution of POWER chips. See RISC, Watson, PowerPC and OpenPOWER Foundation.

                 Word    Tran-   Number
                 Size   sistors   of
 Model     Year (bits) (million) Cores

 POWER10   2020   64     ---       48
 POWER9    2017   64     8000    12/24

 POWER8    2014   64     4200     8/12
 POWER7+   2012   64     2100    4/6/8
 POWER7    2010   64     1200    4/6/8
 POWER6    2007   64      790      2
 POWER5    2004   64      276      2
 POWER4+   2002   64      180      2
 POWER4    2001   64      174      2
 POWER3-II 2000   64       23      1
 POWER3    1998   64       15      1

 POWER2    1993   32       15      1
 POWER1    1990   32        .8     1

An Eight-Core POWER Chip