The calculator that spawned the Intel 4004 microprocessor
One of the most technologically adventurous calculator manufacturers in the late 1960s and early 1970s was the small Japanese company Busicom Corporation. Under its previous name of Nippon Calculating Machine Corporation (NCM) it produced mechanical pinwheel calculators in the mid-1960s.
In the late 1960s Busicom sought contracts with U.S. semiconductor companies, which were then the leaders in semiconductor development, to produce advanced integrated circuits for its calculators and other business machines.
Two contracts in particular were of great technological importance. The first was with Mostek for the development of advanced LSI (Large-Scale Integration) technology for Busicom’s basic calculators that were manufactured in its Osaka factory.
The second contract was with a small start-up company, founded in 1968, called Intel Corporation.
Nigel Tout at the Vintage Calculators Web Museum documents how Busicom and Intel worked to make and use the Intel 4004, the first Intel microprocessor in the article here.
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