The [[Motorola 68000]] (commonly abbreviated as 68k) is a landmark microprocessor introduced in 1979 by Motorola Semiconductor.
Although it It is frequently characterized as a “16/32‑bit” processor, as its design exhibits a unique hybrid architecture: the programming model is 32‑bit (with 32‑bit registers and a 32‑bit instruction set), yet its data arithmetic is carried out by a 16‑bit arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and it utilizes a 16‑bit external data bus. Its 24‑bit address bus enables direct access to 16 megabytes of memory, a very large space for the era.
This innovative compromise helped lower chip pin count and cost while delivering performance that spurred a generation of computing systems.