Intel Corp - Early History

EARLY HISTORY

In the late 1960s, the co-founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, Gordon E. Moore and Dr. Robert Noyce, became dissatisfied with the level of financial support they were receiving from their owners. Despite the firm's status as the largest semiconductor company in the world, Moore and Noyce left Fairchild in 1968 to found NM Electronics, which was based on a one-page business plan developed by Noyce. NM Electronics was later renamed Intel, from the first syllables of "integrated electronics." Early products included a new high-speed RAM device, LSI semiconductor memories, and a metal oxide semiconductor chip. In 1972, Intel released an eight-bit microprocessor known as the 8008. Two years later, it introduced the 8088, the world's first general purpose microprocessor, which quickly became an industry standard. By 1975, sales had reached $135 million.