The Evolution of Intel

These days, intel, the computer chip manufacturing company, is a tech giant. And it is easy to forget that this company too started somewhere, so lets look back and see where the company began, and how just a couple of great decisions paired with luck brought the company to what it is today!

The Start

It all started on July the 18th, 1968 when two physicists, Robert Noyce (co-inventor of the integrated circuit) and Gordon Moore (famously known for Moore’s law) left the company they themselves had started (Fairchild Semiconductor), An investor Arthur Rock, with the executive leadership and vision of Andrew Grove started a new company called Intel Corporation.

Early Products

intel, from the start, stood out due to it’s ability to make logic circuits using semiconductor devices, The end goal was the semiconductor memory market, which was predicted to replace magnetic-core memory. The first product produced was the 3101 64-bit SRAM, which was twice as fast compared to Fairchild’s alternative. In the same year, the company also produced the 3301 1024-bit ROM and the first commercially available 256-bit SRAM (The 1101).

First Breakthrough

The first breakthrough came in 1971 when intel developed the 4004. it was the first commercially available microprocessor, It was giant leap in technology as it integrated the functions of multiple transistors onto a single chip.

Next revolution and a strategic partnership

In 1978, the company released the game changing 8086 processor. It was to lie the the foundations of the x86 architecture, one that became ubiquitous in personal computers. IBM now also collaborated with them on the IBM PC, which was powered by intel’s 8088 processor

386 and Beyond…

in 1985, intel introduced it’s 386 processor which was a major achievement in computing power. It was the first 32-bit microprocessor, offering improved performance, ultimately leading to multitasking operating systems like Windows. the 486 and Pentium processors that followed only further cemented intel’s dominance in the computer chip manufacturing industry

Conclusion

intel as a company has grown a further whole lot more since then, and while it is easy to see the company as a staple to the PC market, we must recognize and appreciate the company’s decisions and the products such as the 3101, 3301, 4004, 8086, etc. which brought it to what the company is today.