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Intel announced its 4004 processor and its chipset through an ad in Electronic News on November 15, 1971, making them the first complete CPU on one chip and the first commercially available microprocessor.
The building-block 4004 CPU held 2300 transistors. The microprocessor, the size of a little fingernail, delivered the same computing power as the first electronic computer built in 1946, which, in contrast, filled a room. Full technical details for the 4004 can be found in this January 1972 EDN story on the technology: One-Chip CPU available for low-cost dedicated computers.
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The Intel 4004 became the first general-purpose programmable processor on the market after Nippon Calculating Machine Corp approached Intel in 1969 to design 12 custom chips for its new Busicom 141-PF printing calculator. According to Intel’s online museum page on the 4004: Intel engineers suggested a family of just four chips, including one that could be programmed for use in a variety of products, setting in motion an engineering feat that dramatically altered the course of electronics.
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Rumor says that NASA’s Pioneer 10 spacecraft (the first craft to reach the outer planets) utilized a 4004. However, NASA has said that while it did evaluate the 4004, it was believed to be too new for the Pioneer 10.
In 2010, Federico Faggin, Stanley Mazor, and Marcian “Ted” Hoff, chief engineers on the 4004, were awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama for their pioneering work.
 Celebrating 64 years of EDN In 1971, EDN was in its 15th year. What else was happening in 1971?:
Read our coverage of EDN’s anniversary here. |
Related articles:
- One-Chip CPU available for low-cost dedicated computers
- Intel is founded, July 18, 1968
- Why the Qualcomm Snapdragon is no longer a processor, but a platform
- The expanding microprocessor market
- HP/Agilent: How to troubleshoot an Intel 4004 system
- Pioneer 10 crosses the orbit of Neptune, June 13, 1983
- EDN’s 60th Anniversary Collection
For more moments in tech history, see this blog. EDN strives to be historically accurate with these postings. Should you see an error, please notify us.
Editor’s note: This article was originally posted on November 15, 2012 and edited on November 15, 2019.
Today, there is even a stronger need for our youngsters to get into engineering and maintain the pace of technological innovation. Read here about how Shachi Kakkar has been motivating youngsters to take up engineering and veteran engineers to have fun at work, through his EDN blogs: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-872803
There is also rumors about how Intel Marketing at the time was totally uninterested in this technology. Good thing the engineers like ran the company otherwise Intel would be just a footnote in history today!
I can't believe that I actually hit “Submit” when the lead in words of my post said: “There is also” – Let's try: “There are also” – I am ashamed – my keyboard should be taken away from me.
I was sketching a CPU with CD4000 logic when I got a 4004 manual in my hand.
We made a digital scale including Eprom1702 (1973). I had to invent memory bank shifting as 4004 could only address 4k.
“My first job, still a senior in HS (Homestead) was characterizing the 4004-family. I was hired just before the company moved from Middlefield Road to Bowers. I was familar with mainframes and even some minicomputers (e.g. Varian 520f, HP, DEC), but had never heard of a microcomputer. Between Fedrico Faggin, Hal Finney, and Yung Feng they convinced me it was more interesting than P-channel memory, so I said \”why not.\” It was one of the best jobs I ever had. I ended up writing the state-machine description of the 4004, working on the 4008 and 4009 (general purpopse interface chips) and writing the first assembler using Teco on a PDP-10. What a great time to be in Santa Clara (it wasn’t called Silicon Gulch, yet).”