Busicom 141-PF and Intel 4004
The fascinating story of why the development of a calculator led to the development of the first commercial microprocessor, and the unexpected consequences.
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 second half of the 1960s Busicom developed and marketed an advanced series of electronic desktop calculators. During this time calculator electronics was at the leading edge of semiconductor development and, like other companies, Busicom took advantage of these developments which increased the number of components that could be incorporated in an integrated circuit. This lead to the reduction in complexity, and hence size and cost of electronic calculators.
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.
