# First microprocessor? (not Intel 4004)



## RoGeorge (Feb 9, 2022)

Most of the historic sources will point to Intel 4004 as the first microprocessor.








						The Story of the Intel® 4004
					

Explore the history of Intel’s first microprocessor, the Intel® 4004, from its invention to its lasting integrated electronics influence.




					www.intel.com
				











						Intel 4004 - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				






However, the Intel 4004 was not the first microprocessor.  

The first microprocessor was Ray Holt's MP944, designed for the F-14 fighter jets and therefore kept secret.
https://firstmicroprocessor.com/documents/

Ray Holt and the history of MP944/Cadc @ Rome Technopole, 2017
Leo Sorge




_View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GROYRkWvxc_


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## sko (Feb 9, 2022)

Wikipedia states the 4004 was the "first commercially available microprocessor", which is correct as the MP944 was never commercially available...


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## VladiBG (Feb 9, 2022)

Who Invented the Microprocessor? - CHM
					

The microprocessor is hailed as one of the most significant engineering milestones of all time. The lack of a generally agreed definition of the term has supported many claims to be the inventor of the microprocessor. This article describes a chronology of early approaches to integrating the...




					computerhistory.org


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## LeoSorge (Feb 9, 2022)

The CHM article looks very accurate.


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## VladiBG (Feb 9, 2022)

And the first IC









						Jack Kilby - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## ralphbsz (Feb 9, 2022)

RoGeorge said:


> Most of the historic sources will point to Intel 4004 as the first microprocessor.


That's because the winners get to write the history.

Another good claim to the first microprocessor is from Four Phase System, a spinout from Fairchild. They built a 24-bit minicomputer using LSI chips, which were de-facto microprocessors. Four Phase was later bought by Motorola, and marketed in Europe by Phillips (as the P7000).

One of my neighbors is one of the fathers of the modern microprocessor, and today in his "retirement" he moonlights as an expert witness in patent cases. So he gets dragged into court cases where companies claim to have invented something, and the Four Phase Systems often invalidates these claims.


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