BUSICOM Calculator (1971)
Accession Number: X1320.97
Gift of Federico Faggin

This calculator is the first device in the world to use a microprocessor and the device for which the world's first microprocessor was designed. Four Intel engineers -- Ted Hoff, Federico Faggin, Stan Mazor, and Matsatoshi Shima -- designed and built the "Intel 4004" central processing unit (CPU) to replace dozens of discrete logic circuits and thus meet the rigorous packaging requirements of their Japanese customer, BUSICOM.

As market conditions in the calculator market worsened due to intense competition, BUSICOM withdrew its product and sold the rights for the 4004 microprocessor back to Intel -- perhaps one of the most significant business decisions in computer history -- allowing Intel to diversify into microprocessors based on this technology.

The 4004 was the progenitor to many variants of microprocessors, such as the 8-bit 8008, as well as the 8080, 8086, 8088, and "x86" family of microprocessors, now used in hundreds of millions of Personal Computers (PCs) worldwide.