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NexGen
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{{Short description|American semiconductor company}} {{About|the defunct semiconductor company|articles with slightly similar spellings of the term|Nextgen (disambiguation){{!}}Nextgen}} {{refimprove|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox company | name = NexGen, Inc. | logo = | caption = | fate = Acquired by [[AMD]] <!--Suggestions: bankrupt, merged etc.--> | foundation = {{Start date and age|1986}} | defunct = {{end date and age|1996|01|16}} <!--date it went bankrupt/merged etc.--> | location = [[Milpitas, California]], US | industry = [[Semiconductor]]s<!--types of products or services offered--> | key_people = Dr. A. Thampy Thomas | products = [[Microprocessor]]s <!--some of company's notable products--> | num_employees = <!--peak number of employees--> | parent = [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]] <!--company merged into etc.--> | subsid = <!--former subsidiaries, if any--> | homepage = [https://web.archive.org/web/19961112102704/http://www.nexgen.com/ www.nexgen.com] (archived page from 1996-11-12) }} '''NexGen, Inc.''' was a private [[semiconductor]] company based in [[Milpitas, California]], that designed [[x86]] [[microprocessor]]s until it was purchased by [[AMD]] on January 16, 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nexgen.com/ |title=The Nx586 Processor World: NexGen merged with AMD on January 16, 1996. |publisher=Nexgen |date=1996-06-14 |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/19961112102704/http://www.nexgen.com/ |archivedate = 1996-11-12}}</ref> NexGen was a [[fabless]] design house that designed its chips but relied on other companies for production. NexGen's chips were produced by [[IBM]]'s [[IBM Microelectronics|Microelectronics]] division in [[Burlington, Vermont]], alongside [[PowerPC]] and [[DRAM]] parts.<ref name="pcw199405_nexgen">{{ cite magazine | title=NexGen develops high-speed processors | magazine=Personal Computer World | date=May 1994 | last1=Beard | first1=Mat | pages=244 }}</ref> The company was best known for the unique implementation of the x86 architecture in its processors. NexGen's CPUs were designed very differently from other processors based on the x86 instruction set at the time: the processor would translate code designed to run on the traditionally [[Complex instruction set computing|CISC]]-based x86 architecture to run on the chip's internal [[Reduced instruction set computing|RISC]] architecture.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&l1=NexGen&l2=Nx586|title=The NexGen Nx586 Processor |publisher=www.cpu-collection.de|accessdate=2010-12-23}}</ref> The architecture was used in later AMD chips such as the [[AMD K6|K6]], and to an extent most x86 processors today implement a "hybrid" architecture similar to those used in NexGen's processors. It went public in 1994, and was bought by AMD in 1995 for $850M. The technology forms the platform architecture for all of AMD's current microprocessors. It was an unusual start-up in its time as the original funding came from corporate investors, [[Compaq]] and [[Olivetti]],<ref name="pcw199405_nexgen"/> joined in a later round by [[venture capital]] firm [[Kleiner Perkins]].
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