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Pull out the candles and champagne, because the Intel 4004 is celebrating a major birthday today -- the big four-oh. That's right, it's been exactly four decades since [Intel](http://www.engadget.com/tag/Intel/) unveiled the world's first commercially available CPU, with an *Electronic News* ad that ran on November 15th, 1971. It all began in 1969, when Japan's Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation asked Intel to create 12 chips for its Busicom 141-PF calculator. With that assignment, engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff and Stanley Mazor set about designing what would prove to be a groundbreaking innovation -- a 4-bit, 16-pin microprocessor with a full 2,300 MOS transistors, and about 740kHZ of horsepower. The 4004's ten micron feature size may seem gargantuan by contemporary standards, but at the time, it was rather remarkable -- especially considering that the processor was constructed from a single piece of silicon. In fact, Faggin was so proud of his creation that he decided to initial its design with "FF," in appropriate recognition of a true work of art. Hit up the coverage links below for more background on the Intel 4004, including a graphic history of the microprocessor, from the *Inquirer*.
Intel 4004, world’s first commercial microprocessor, celebrates 40th birthday, ages gracefully originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Nov 2011 11:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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