Intel Corporation

I

Introduction

Intel Corporation, leading manufacturer of microprocessors and integrated circuits. The company invented the microprocessor, which powers personal computers. The company also makes computer network products, memory products, servers, and supercomputers. Intel is based in Santa Clara, California.

II

Origins

The company was founded in 1968 when engineers Gordon Moore and Bob Noyce left Fairchild Semiconductor of Mountain View, California, to form their own company. The two were soon joined by Andrew Grove, who became chief executive officer of Intel in 1987. The name Intel came from the term integrated electronics.

Intel focused on making an affordable semiconductor that could hold enough memory to replace the magnetic core memory then used in computers. The company’s first successful products were the dynamic random-access memory circuit (DRAM) in 1970, which won acceptance among manufacturers of mainframe computers, and the erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chip in 1971, which allowed memory to be erased and reused without reprogramming.

III

Invention of the Microprocessor

In 1971 Intel developed the world’s first microprocessor, the 4004. The idea for the 4004 microprocessor came from Intel engineer Ted Hoff, who, while working on a series of 12 processing chips for a Japanese calculator company, suggested a central processing unit (CPU) on a single chip. At a size of 0.42 cm by 0.32 cm (… in by ˆ in), the programmable 4004 contained 2,300 transistors and had as much processing power as the first electronic digital computer, ENIAC, which had required 18,000 vacuum tubes and a large room.

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The 4004 and the 8-bit 8080, introduced in 1974, were used in a number of products, from handheld calculators to traffic lights. The 8080 also powered the first personal computer, the Altair 8800. In 1980 International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) chose the 8-bit 8088 chip for its personal computer line, securing Intel’s position as the world’s top microprocessor manufacturer. The 8088 and its successors helped popularize personal computers.

Intel suffered some difficult times in the mid-1980s. In addition to a recession in the semiconductor industry, competitors cut the price of their DRAMs, the memory devices that had been a key product for Intel. The competition forced Intel to close eight plants and to stop producing DRAMs in 1985.

IV

Faster Chips

In 1982 Intel introduced the 80286 (or 286) processor, which was used to power the IBM PC/AT. IBM’s personal computers and IBM clones soon became the personal computers of choice for businesses. By 1988 the 80286 powered some 15 million personal computers. Intel continued to develop new chips with greater speed and processing power, introducing the 80386 (or 386) chip in 1985, the 486 chip in 1989, and the Pentium chip in 1993. Each became the industry standard. The Pentium Pro chip, introduced in 1995, contained 5.5 million transistors.

In 1996 a supercomputer built by Intel and the United States Department of Energy achieved a processing speed of more than one trillion operations per second, eclipsing the previous computing speed record of 368 billion operations per second. The supercomputer contained thousands of Pentium Pro processors, enabling it to operate by parallel processing.

In 1997 Intel introduced the Pentium processor with MMX technology, a feature designed to boost the performance of multimedia applications. Later that year Intel launched the Pentium II, a high-performance microprocessor containing 7.5 million transistors. The company subsequently introduced faster versions of the Pentium II as well as a low-cost Pentium II chip, the Celeron, designed for use in less expensive personal computers.