The present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for measuring the temperature of a microprocessor through the use of ESD circuitry. The present invention uses diodes and an I/O pad within ESD circuits to determine the temperature at the location of the ESD circuitry. First, a current measuring device connects to a diode. A user or a computer program disables the protected component or circuitry, and subsequently applies a predetermined voltage to the I/O pad. This creates a reverse saturation current through the diode, which is measured by the current measuring device. From this current the user or a computer program determines the temperature of the microprocessor at the diode through the use of a graphical representation of diode reverse saturation current and corresponding temperature.