How Microprocessors Work

In November 1971, Intel introduced the world's first commercial microprocessor, the 4004, invented by three Intel engineers. Primitive by today's standards, it contained a mere 2,300 transistors and performed about 60,000 calculations in a second. Twenty-five years later, the microprocessor is the most complex mass-produced product ever, with more than 5.5 million transistors performing hundreds of millions of calculations each second.

This interactive site is based on a real-life exhibit installed in the Intel Museum in Santa Clara, California.

View Intel Museum*



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