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Ted Hoff Talks About The Invention Of The Intel 4004
An AC sends us this interesting piece - "I recently came across this not-so-new interview with Ted Hoff, the inventor of the first CPU in the world - Intel4004. It's fascinating reading: the birth of the chip, the dispute over credibility, patent filing and his later life with Atari."
right here
He's the guy who bolted from Intel and started up Zilog (in a nutshell - detailed versions welcome).
Excerpt: Three weeks after that disappointment, a new run came. My hands were trembling as I loaded the 2-inch wafer into the probe station. It was late at night, and I was alone in the lab. I was praying for it to work well enough that I could find all the bugs so the next run could yield shippable devices. My excitement grew as I found various areas of the circuit working. By 3:00 a.m., I went home in a strange state of exhaustion and excitement.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Intel has often claimed that the 4004 was the first CPU chip. And it's generally accepted as fact.
However, it's not.
TI unveiled one in 1970. I can't even remember the part number because it didn't get any popularity, but itwas basically the entire CPU board from a TI minicomputer compressed onto one chip.
The patent wasn't issued until 1973.
"Texas Instruments invented the integrated circuit, microprocessor and microcomputer. Being first is our tradition."
- TI Product Manual
Fact: Texas Instruments makes more chips every day than Frito-Lay.
Fact: Texas Instruments made the first 16-bit CPU chip, too - the TMS9900. It was used in TI-99/4A home computers and Patriot guided missiles.
Fact: Most TI stuff is built to almost military specs: the home computer's cards were cased in cast aluminum.
Intel is just an annoying little upstart, and the Pentium 4 is merely the continued evolution of the 4004, which was merely a hand calculator chip.
Oh, yeah, and TI did that, too, also in 1971. Only, I'd submit that Intel didn't complete the job, the 4004 required support ICs. TI's didn't.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.