World's first microprocessor turns 40 years old

Whatever device you're using right now to read these words —be it a PC, a tablet, or a mobile phone— owes its very existence to a tiny sliver of silicon developed 40 years ago today, November 15. Today is the official birthday of the very first microprocessor, according to Intel, the company that made it. The first batches of the 4004 were installed into business calculators that were large and cumbersome desk machines —direct ancestors of the iPad, mobile phones and laptops of 2011. How far we've come The Intel 4004 microchip had 2,300 tiny transistors that fit on a die smaller than the human fingertip. Transistors are to microprocessors what brain cells or neurons are to the brain. This 'Adam' of microprocessors had processing speed of 740 kilohertz, which is much like the five meter-per-hour speed of a snail compared to the 100-meters-in-9.4 second sprint of world record holder Usain Bolt.

The first microprocessor, the Intel 4004 was the brains of the first business calculators, ancestors of today’s PCs, tablets, and mobile phones. source: Intel

A current second generation Intel core processor has 995 million transistors packed into a chip area of one-third of a square inch. If energy technology for chips remained unchanged since 1971, Intel estimates that current laptops would consume 4,000 times more energy than they do now and that energy would cost 100,000 euro per year or about P5.89 million. And the computing power of millions of calculators in current incarnations of microprocessors are number-crunching the future of computers and electronics. Where we're headed Intel Corp forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street's expectations, defying concerns that tablets and a shaky economy are eating into demand for personal computers. Intel shares moved sharply higher after the company beat earnings expectations and said developing countries like China are fueling expansion and helping make up for slower growth in the United States and Europe. "Guidance is well above consensus estimates, but below seasonality," said Patrick Wang, an analyst at Evercore Partners. "They are giving us a realistic look at the fourth quarter and it seems like they are guiding conservatively." Intel's processors are used in 80 percent of the world's PCs but the company has failed to gain traction in increasingly popular mobile gadgets like Google Inc's Android smartphones and Apple Inc'siPad, which some people are buying instead of laptops. Chief Financial Officer Stacy Smith said Intel's outlook was a little lower than normal for this time of year, mostly because of weakness in Europe's economy. Corporate information technology spending has held up in recent quarters despite the lackluster economy, helping sales of Intel's high-margin server chips. Tech companies such as Facebook are also investing heavily to build out their computing capacity, helping data center sales for the world's leading chipmaker rise 15 percent in the quarter. "Emerging markets are good, enterprise is strong, the mature market consumer is a little bit weaker," Smith told Reuters. "I'd say Europe was a little bit weaker than the U.S." In the third quarter, sales of Intel's Atom mobile chips plummeted 32 percent, reflecting consumers' growing preference for tablets over netbook PCs the Atom chips are widely used in. Shares of Intel have risen about 11 percent this year, outperforming the Nasdaq composite index, which has been flat. Analysts recommending the company say it has been punished too much for its lag in mobile computing and point to the stock's 3.6 percent dividend yield. Intel said it spent $4 billion to buy back shares during the third quarter and authorized another $10 billion for more buybacks. The Santa Clara, California company is rushing to develop more energy efficient chips for tablets and phones although it is not expected to become competitive in mobile any time soon. It is also promoting Ultrabooks, a new super-thin category of laptops using Intel processors -- similar to Apple's MacBook Air. Early Ultrabook models, meant to combine the best features of tablets and laptops, may seem expensive to consumers, analysts say. But as new features are added to them, such as touchscreens and "instant on" capability, Intel expects the Ultrabooks to account for 40 percent of the consumer PC market by the end of next year. Chief Executive Paul Otellini told analysts on a conference call that the potential release of Microsoft Corp's upcoming Windows 8 operating system next year could fuel higher PC sales and help Intel. Intel said revenue in the current quarter would be $14.7 billion, plus or minus $500 million. Analysts' average forecast was $14.23 billion, according to Thomson Reuters. Teaming up with Google Intel on Tuesday announced that it has teamed with Google to tailor chips to get top performance out of smartphones powered by the Internet giant's Android software. "Our collaboration with Google will bring a powerful new capability to market that helps accelerate industry innovation, adoption and choice," Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said at the opening of the US chip maker's developers conference in San Francisco. "I'm excited by the possibilities of this collaboration," he continued. "It will enable our customers to bring exciting new products and user experiences to market that harness the combined potential of Intel architecture and the Android platform." The alliance with the world's largest computer chip maker came as Google ramped up its push into the hot smartphone market with a deal to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. Illinois-based Motorola Mobility makes mobile phones, tablet computers and TV set-top boxes -- areas where the Silicon Valley-based Google has no experience other than writing the software to power the devices. Smartphones powered by Google's free Android mobile software have been soaring in popularity and become targets of patent lawsuits by iPhone maker Apple. The joint effort by Google and Intel is aimed at quickly bringing to market a family of Atom processors that will drive Android smartphones, according to Otellini. "Combining Android with Intel's low power smartphone roadmap opens up more opportunity for innovation and choice," said Google Mobile senior vice president Andy Rubin. "This collaboration will drive the Android ecosystem forward." The two northern California technology titans have a history of working together to harmonize chips and software on projects including Google TV and Chrome notebook computers. — With reports from Reuters and AFP / TJD, GMA News