July 18, 1968 — Intel Was Founded

On this day, Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore incorporated a new company. It was initially named N.M. Electronics, but was soon renamed Intel, short for Integrated Electronics. The company would go on to become one of the world’s most influential semiconductor manufacturers.

Leaving Fairchild

By 1968, Noyce and Moore were already among the most respected figures in the semiconductor industry. Both had worked at Fairchild Semiconductor, where Noyce became one of the inventors of the integrated circuit, while Moore formulated what later became known as Moore’s Law. They believed that Fairchild’s parent company was no longer investing aggressively enough in research and new technologies, so they decided to leave and build a company centered on continuous innovation.

A Company Built on a Three-Paragraph Business Plan

Venture capitalist Arthur Rock helped secure funding for the new venture. Remarkably, Intel’s original business plan was only three short paragraphs long. That was enough to raise approximately $2.5 million in startup funding. Soon after the company was founded, Andy Grove joined the team. He would later become Intel’s president and CEO.

Why It Matters

During its early years, Intel focused primarily on semiconductor memory. In 1971, however, the company introduced the Intel 4004, the world’s first commercially available single-chip microprocessor, marking the beginning of the microprocessor era. Intel processors would later power the majority of personal computers, and the company became one of the driving forces behind the modern computing industry.

Sources

• Intel Founding History

See also The Birth of the Transistor: William Shockley’s Groundbreaking Patent of 1948.