In what year was Google Chrome first released?

Google Chrome was first released in 2008. Google launched the browser publicly as a beta on September 2, 2008, initially for Windows XP and later versions, with support for 43 languages.

Chrome grew out of the open-source Chromium project and was designed around speed, simplicity, and stronger separation between browser processes. Google also introduced the V8 JavaScript engine and used Apple’s WebKit for rendering at launch. The stable production release followed on December 11, 2008.

A common mix-up is confusing Chrome’s initial beta with its first stable release: both happened in 2008. Chrome’s macOS and Linux beta versions arrived in December 2009, while Chrome 5.0 in May 2010 was the first stable release supporting Windows, macOS, and Linux together. Its rapid adoption helped reshape the browser market, which had previously been dominated by Internet Explorer and challenged by Firefox.