Branch prediction has played a pivotal role as a micro-architecture design technology to improve modern microprocessor performance.  In this talk, we will briefly dissect the components of a modern microprocessor and explain how branch prediction fits in. A historical perspective to the research and development of branch prediction will be presented.  A number of predictor designs from both academia and industry will be discussed. We will investigate various design attributes like power, delay, global branch history, history update and multiple predictions.  Finally, we will peek into the future of branch prediction.