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The Intel 4004 Microprocessor and the Silicon Gate Technology
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A testimonial from Federico Faggin, designer of the 4004 and developer of its enabling technology
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4004 Microprocessor Display at New Intel
Museum (1992)
This is the display of the 4004 at the opening of the Intel Museum in 1992.
The legends, transcribed below, explain the roles played by Ted Hoff (formulated first microprocessor architecture in 1969) and Federico Faggin (designed the first microprocessor and delivered it to market in 1970-1971).
1971
4004 Microprocessor
"The development of the first microprocessor began in 1969 when a Japanese calculator maker -Busicom- asked Intel to design a set of 12 custom logic chips for a line of programmable calculators. Intel's solution was a single chip general purpose computer, the 4004, which could be programmed to do the work of the dozen chips."
"A dozen custom chips was more than Intel's small circuit design staff
could handle. A young Intel engineer -Marcian E. "Ted" Hoff-
recognized that the integrated circuit technology of the day had
advanced enough to build a single chip, general purpose computer which
could be programmed to run any of busicom’s calculators. He also
realized that such a chip -using different sequences of instructions-
could run a calculator, a traffic light, an elevator or a multitude of
other things. Hoff’s insight led him to formulate the world’s first
microprocessor architecture, the Intel 4004."
"Federico Faggin (above) joined Intel to turn Hoff's vision into a silicon reality. In less than one year, Faggin and his team delivered the 4004,
which was introduced in November, 1971."
"The world's first microprocessor application was this Busicom calculator. Busicom eventually sold some 100,000 calculators."
"Measuring 1/8 inch wide by 1/6 inch long, consisting of 2.300 transistors, Intel’s 4004 microprocessor had as much computing power as the first electronic computer, ENIAC. ENIAC, built in 1946, filled 3000-cubic-feet of space and contained 18.000 vacuum tubes. The 4004 microprocessor could execute 60.000 operations per second, primitive by today’s standards but a major breakthrough at the time."
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