Central Processing Unit (CPU)

As the “brains” of the computer, a central processing unit, also known as a processor or CPU, executes the arithmetic, logic, and control operations defined in any program. Since the 1950s, the idea of a CPU has been used in computer science.

The majority of contemporary CPUs are microchips with millions of tiny transistors. Each of those transistors, which stand in for the binary system’s ones and zeros, has the ability to switch on and off. Together, these transistors enable even the CPUs in smartphones to process billions of calculations every second.