The giants that built the foundation
Bell Labs, Fairchild and Intel: The silicon race
From the transistor to the integrated circuit and the programmable microprocessor.
In this lesson
The main idea
Computers did not shrink in one jump: first came a smaller electronic switch, then integrated components, then a CPU on one chip.
Companies and milestones
- 1947 — Bell Labs: demonstrated the point-contact transistor, smaller and less power-hungry than vacuum tubes. Type: hardware/component.
- 1959 — Fairchild Semiconductor: the planar integrated circuit made multi-component circuits practical to manufacture. Type: hardware/semiconductors.
- 1971 — Intel 4004: a general programmable microprocessor on one chip. Type: hardware with software impact.
Why was this a qualitative leap?
Value shifted from wiring thousands of parts to designing repeatable, programmable chips, enabling personal and embedded devices.
Check your understanding
Match the three shifts to the problem solved: switching, integration, processing.
Answer
Bell Labs improved the switch, Fairchild integrated components, and Intel placed programmable processing on a chip.
Sources
Source 1: www.computerhistory.org