The
MOS Technology 6502 (typically
"sixty-five-oh-two" or
"six-five-oh-two") is an
8-bit microprocessor that was designed by a small team led by
Chuck Peddle for
MOS Technology. When it was introduced in 1975, the 6502 was, by a considerable margin, the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market. It initially sold for less than one-sixth the cost of competing designs from larger companies, such as
Motorola and
Intel, and caused rapid decreases in pricing across the entire processor market. Along with the
Zilog Z80 it sparked a series of projects that resulted in the
home computer revolution of the early 1980s.