A silicon compiler is an electronic design automation software tool that is used for high-level synthesis of integrated circuits.
Fabricated using a 3-micron NMOS process, the chip measured 50,600 square mils in die area, and was being marketed and manufactured in volume-production by 1983 under license from SCI.
John Wawrzynek at Caltech used some of the earliest silicon compilers in 1982 as part of the "Yet Another Processor Project" (YAPP), akin to YACC.
MicroVAX's data-path chip contains the entire 32-bit processor, except its microcode store and control-store sequencer, and contains 37,000 transistors.
Including those seven months, Digital Equipment Corporation completed the design and implementation of the MicroVAX within one year.