The Microprocessor Is 50 Celebrating The Intel 4004
The First Commercial Single-Chip Microprocessor In 1969, a Japanese calculator manufacturer called Busicom hired Intel to create chips for a calculator that Busicom designed. Intel devised a chipset (called the MCS-4—short for “Micro Computer System”) composed of four integrated circuits (ICs) that dramatically simplified the calculator’s internal design. In delivering its solution, Intel developed and commercialized the world’s first single-chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004. It also designed three supporting chips: the 4001, 4002, and 4003....