Intel P 4004

first Microprocessor on a single chip!

The 4004 is considered the world's first microprocessor. The 4004 was created by Intel with Ted Hoff and Federico Faggin as the lead designers. The 4004 provided a new tool to the world. Up to that time and semiconductors and ICs ("integrated circuits") were built for a specific purpose. The 4004 was the first semiconductor device that provided, at the chip level, the functions of a computer. Although the 4004 was created for use in calculators, it was found to have many other applications. [Steve Emery]

The Intel 4004 provided the basic building blocks that are still found in today's microcomputers: the arithmetic and logic unit and the control unit. The 4-bit Intel 4004 ran at a clock speed of 108 kHz and contained 2,300 transistors. The 4004 processed data in 4 bits, but its instructions were 8 bits long. The 4004 could address up to 1 Kb of program memory and up to 4 Kb of data memory. The 4004 chip had sixteen 4-bit - or eight 8-bit - general purpose registers, and an instruction set containing 46 instructions. [Steve Emery]

4 bit processor with 12 bit addressable memory
multiplexed 4 bit data / address bus

2300 transistors