NexGen

NexGen, Inc.
Company type	Private (until 1994), Public (1994–1996)
Industry	Semiconductor
Founded	1986; 40 years ago
Founder	Thampy Thomas
Defunct	January 16, 1996
Fate	Acquired by AMD
Headquarters	Milpitas, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	x86 microprocessors (Nx586)

NexGen, Inc. was a privately held semiconductor firm located in Milpitas, California that specialized in designing x86 microprocessors until it was acquired by AMD on January 16, 1996. Functioning as a fabless design company, NexGen outsourced its chip fabrication to IBM's Microelectronics division in Burlington, Vermont, which also produced PowerPC and DRAM products.

The company gained recognition for its distinctive approach to the x86 architecture: its processors converted conventional CISC-style x86 instructions to operate on an internal RISC core. This hybrid design influenced subsequent AMD processors such as the K6, and continues to underpin contemporary x86 processor architectures.

NexGen went public in 1994 and was acquired by AMD in 1995 for $850 million. The technology developed by NexGen formed the foundation for AMD’s present-day microprocessor designs. Early financial backing came from corporate investors including Compaq and Olivetti, with additional venture capital funding from firms like Kleiner Perkins.

History

Established in 1986 by Thampy Thomas with initial capital from Compaq, ASCII, and Kleiner Perkins, NexGen initially aimed its efforts at the 80386 processor generation. However, its inaugural design proved overly complex, demanding eight chips instead of a single one, and by the time it was completed, the industry had moved forward to the 80486 generation.

The company’s second processor, the Nx586 CPU launched in 1994, was the first to directly challenge Intel’s Pentium with models such as Nx586-P80 and Nx586-P90. Unlike competitors AMD and Cyrix, the Nx586 was not pin-compatible with Pentium or other Intel processors, necessitating a custom NxVL-based motherboard and chipset. NexGen supported both VESA Local Bus (VLB) and PCI motherboard standards for these CPUs.

In terms of clock-for-clock performance, the Nx586 outperformed the Pentium; the P80 operated at 75 MHz while the P90 ran at 83.3 MHz. Nevertheless, enhancements in Intel's Triton chipset ultimately elevated Pentium performance beyond that of NexGen’s offerings. Furthermore, PCs identified the Nx586 as an 80386 processor, leading to compatibility problems with software requiring detection of faster CPUs unless CPU identification utilities were employed. Unlike Intel’s Pentium, the Nx586 did not include an integrated math coprocessor; instead, an optional Nx587 chip provided this capability.

Later versions of the Nx586 incorporated an on-chip x87 math coprocessor using IBM’s multichip module (MCM) technology by combining the 586 and 587 dies into one package. Marketed as the Nx586-PF100, this model maintained the same pin configuration as previous versions but integrated floating-point unit functionality.

Although Compaq—one of NexGen’s investors—intended to utilize the Nx586 and even substituted “Pentium” with “586” in its marketing materials, it never broadly adopted NexGen’s processors. Conversely, Alaris, Inc., a smaller computer manufacturer, was the first to ship systems equipped with the Nx586 during fall 1994.

Following disappointing commercial and technical results from AMD’s K5 chip, AMD acquired NexGen. Some customers who had purchased NexGen hardware received complimentary AMD K5 CPUs bundled with motherboards as compensation. Subsequently, AMD discontinued development of its own internal K5 successor to focus on NexGen’s Nx686 architecture, which later evolved into AMD’s successful K6 processor.

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