How long does a CPU last?

Answer 1

Voyager Spacecraft uses Intel 4004. It still operating after 40 years. There are no external chemicals that can affect the electronics.

My HP200LX bought in 1991 still working in perfect condition and there is no sign that it will die.

Considering that we had engineering improvements in the new microprocessor and that you can keeping the electronic parts in a cold environment or vacuum environment, perhaps it can lasts half a centuye to many hundred or thousand of years.

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Indefinitely. CPUs "die" due to the effects of electromigration. This is basically when the atoms in the circuits of a chips start to stretch apart and grow outward. Eventually, they will either break or come in contact with other circuits and short out. Depending on numerous factors, such as the manufacturing process (older and larger processes will tend to last longer), heat (less is better) and voltage (less is better), a processor could theoretically last hundreds of years, or short out in a couple minutes. Virtually all processors you will ever encounter will last far longer than the useful life of the product, so it isn't anything you'll have to worry about.