In this model, n processors, each with their own control unit, share a single memory unit. In each clock cycle, the data received from the memory is processed by all processors simultaneously, each in accordance with the instructions received from its control unit.

In this case, the parallelism (instruction-level parallelism) is obtained by performing several operations on the same piece of data. The types of problems that can be solved efficiently in these architectures are rather special, such as data encryption. For this reason, the MISD computer has not found space in the commercial sector. MISD computers are more of an intellectual exercise than a practical configuration.