Gold Inside Intel Pentium 75 MHz CPU (1994)

 

The Intel Pentium 75 MHz (1994), like most CPUs of its era, contained small but valuable amounts of gold used for reliability in electrical connections. Gold was not inside the silicon die itself but used in several key parts:

Die attach / bonding pads: The contact pads on the silicon die were often plated with gold to ensure a clean, low-resistance bond with the wires.

Package pins and contacts: The external pins of the CPU (Socket 5/7) sometimes had gold plating on their tips to provide durable, oxidation-resistant connections with the motherboard socket.

Ceramic package (in early versions): Some Pentium 75 CPUs came in a ceramic package with a metal cap—inside, gold was often used as part of the lid plating or trace bonding.

Although the actual quantity of gold was small (typically fractions of a gram per chip), it played a critical role in making the processor reliable over many years. This is why old Pentium CPUs are sometimes recovered as e-waste for gold recycling.