Computing · 1971
Microprocessor (Intel 4004)
A whole computer processor on one chip.
Intel's 4004, designed by Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff and Masatoshi Shima for a Busicom calculator, packed 2,300 transistors at 740 kHz. It made programmable intelligence cheap enough to put in almost anything.
What it built on 2
What it led to 15
- Intel 8080 1974
- RISC 1980
- Cellular phone network 1983
- Airbus A320 fly-by-wire 1987
- GSM (2G digital cellular) 1991
- ASCI Red 1996
- GM EV1 1996
- Deep Blue 1997
- ASIMO 2000
- BrainGate implant 2004
- Smartphone 2007
- Collaborative robot 2008
- Falcon 1 reaches orbit 2008
- Low-cost humanoid (Unitree G1) 2024
- Salt-grain autonomous robots 2025
Related measurements
The dashed line marks when it first worked.
Transistors per microprocessor Latest: 58.2B transistors (2021) Source: Our World in Data
Computation per constant dollar, 1850-2006 Latest: 7.3B million units of computer power per 2006 $ (2003) Source: Nordhaus 2007, Two Centuries of Productivity Growth in Computing, J. Econ. Hist. 67(1), Table 6