A method to compress microcode utilizing a genetic algorithm includes generating a population of chromosomes, each chromosome including one or more elements that indicate a cluster to which a portion of microcode memory belongs. The method further includes determining a fitness value of each chromosome and modifying the population of chromosomes based on the fitness values of the chromosomes to generate a new population of chromosomes. In addition, the method includes compressing the microcode memory using a cluster-based compression technique, wherein clusters are selected according to a chromosome from the new population with the best fitness value. Other embodiments are also disclosed.