According to the application fields of microprocessors, microprocessors can be roughly divided into three categories: general-purpose high-performance microprocessors, embedded microprocessors and digital signal processors, and microcontrollers. Generally speaking, general-purpose processors pursue high performance. They are used to run general-purpose software and are equipped with complete and complex operating systems; Embedded microprocessors emphasize the high performance of handling specific application problems. They are mainly used to run special programs for specific fields, equipped with lightweight operating systems, and are mainly used for consumer appliances such as cellular phones and CD players; The price of microcontroller is relatively low, and there is a large demand in the microprocessor market. It is mainly used for automatic control equipment in automobile, air conditioning, automatic machinery and other fields.

CPU is the abbreviation of central processing unit (central microprocessor). It is an important part of the computer and consists of arithmetic unit and controller. If computers are compared to people, then the CPU is the human brain. The development of CPU is very rapid. It took only 21 years for personal computers to develop from 8088 (XT) to Pentium 4.