For decades, computer history books have repeated almost as a mantra that “the first microprocessor was Intel’s 4004.” Reality is more nuanced. By the time Intel launched its famous 4-bit chip in 1971, there were already other designs in development — and even in service — that anticipated many of the ideas we now associate with the birth of the modern microprocessor.
And while the US and Japan were pushing large-scale integration into commercial markets, the Soviet Union was trying to keep pace with a mix of home-grown designs and systematic cloning of Western chips. The result was a quiet race that defined much of the hardware landscape of the 1970s and 1980s.
Long before the legend: the MP944 of the F-14 Tomcat
One of the great “forgotten” designs is the MP944, the multi-chip set that powered the Central Air Data Computer (CADC) of the F-14 Tomcat fighter, developed by Garrett AiResearch (now part of Honeywell). Work on the project started in the late 1960s, and the system was operational in the early 1970s — years before the 4004 appeared in commercial catalogs.
The CADC wasn’t a single chip, but a set of 20-bit LSI (Large Scale Integration) circuits specialized in real-time flight calculations: speed, altitude, angles, control surfaces… In practical terms, it was a distributed microprocessor, purpose-built to manage the F-14’s flight dynamics.
Why isn’t it remembered as “the first” in the popular imagination?
- It was a military-specific design, not a general-purpose commercial product.
- It remained classified for years; detailed documentation was only declassified decades later, when the F-14 program was already being retired.
- It was never sold as a standard part that a third-party manufacturer could buy and use to build a computer.
From a historical point of view, though, the MP944 proves that the idea of integrating a CPU using LSI was already mature before Intel turned the 4004 into a commercial product.
Four-Phase, Intel, TI and others: the “first wave” of microprocessors
In parallel with those military projects, several companies were working on chips aimed at civil and commercial markets.
Four-Phase Systems AL1 (1969–1970)
California-based Four-Phase Systems developed the AL1, an 8-bit bit-slice chip used in commercial systems as early as 1970. It wasn’t a full CPU-on-a-chip in the modern sense, but it was a crucial building block for modular processors.
Many historians see it as a serious contender for the title of “first commercial microprocessor” precisely because it shipped in real systems before the 4004 was commercially available.
Intel 4004 (1971): the first single-chip CPU you could actually buy
The Intel 4004, launched in 1971, does have a very solid claim to fame: it was the first general-purpose CPU implemented on a single chip and sold broadly as a standard component. It was originally developed as part of a contract for Busicom calculators, but Intel quickly realized its potential as a general-purpose product.
Its 4-bit architecture, tiny address space and modest performance look almost toy-like today, but it introduced a crucial idea: any engineer could buy the chip and design a system around it. That’s a big part of its enduring legend.
Texas Instruments TMS1000 (1974): the first microcontroller
In 1974, Texas Instruments went a step further with the TMS1000, widely considered the first commercial microcontroller: CPU, ROM, RAM and I/O on the same die. It was aimed at calculators and consumer electronics and effectively launched a new category separate from the “pure” microprocessor: low-cost, highly integrated devices designed for embedded, single-purpose tasks.
Fairchild F8 (3850/3851) and growing competition
The race accelerated quickly. By the mid-70s, Fairchild introduced the F8 family (3850/3851), an 8-bit design with a distinctive split architecture that separated control logic and program memory. In some environments it was very competitive with early Intel 8080 and MOS 6502-class CPUs.
In just five years, the market evolved from almost experimental prototypes to a broad, commercial portfolio of 4- and 8-bit microprocessors and microcontrollers.
What was happening in the USSR: clones, compatibility and “shadow” design
Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, the context was very different. Western export controls (notably CoCom restrictions) forced Soviet industry to push forward using a combination of original designs and direct cloning of Western chips, often via reverse engineering of parts obtained through indirect channels.
KR580VM80A: the Soviet “8080”
By the late 1970s, the KR580VM80A appeared, an 8-bit microprocessor compatible with Intel’s 8080A, and one of the first widely deployed Soviet CPUs. Introduced around 1977, it was used in personal computers, industrial control systems and military equipment.
This chip is a good illustration of the Soviet approach: instead of betting on radically different architectures, engineers prioritized binary compatibility with Western CPUs — especially those around which a meaningful software ecosystem was already forming.
1801 series: betting on the PDP-11 architecture
Another important example is the 1801VMx family, a series of Soviet microprocessors compatible with DEC’s PDP-11 architecture, hugely popular in Western minicomputers. The 1801VM1 was one of the earliest in the series, able to address 64 KB and execute on the order of 500,000 register operations per second, with later versions like the 1801VM2 pushing performance further.
Again, the key idea wasn’t to invent a completely new instruction set, but to reproduce and adapt de facto standards for integration into Soviet systems.
A parallel ecosystem
In short, while Intel, TI or Fairchild were competing in an open commercial market, the USSR was building a parallel ecosystem:
- Heavily constrained by Western export bans.
- Focused on military, aerospace and industrial-control applications.
- Based on a blend of clones of Western microprocessors and chips compatible with popular minicomputer architectures like the PDP-11.
They weren’t the “first” in a global chronological sense, but they were very much part of the first global wave of microprocessor competition, even if many of their stories remained largely invisible in the West.
From 4 bits to x86 dominance (and beyond)
The story doesn’t end in the 1970s. Those early microprocessors opened the door to a rapid escalation in complexity and capability.
- Intel 8080, 8085 and 8086: Intel moved quickly from 4-bit and early 8-bit designs (8008, 8080) to the 16-bit 8086, which would spawn the x86 family — the foundation of desktop and server computing for decades.
- MOS 6502, Zilog Z80: lower-cost, high-performance competitors that powered everything from the Apple II to the ZX Spectrum, helping to democratize personal computing.
- RISC and ARM: in the 1980s and 90s, the RISC philosophy and the birth of ARM shifted the focus toward simpler, more efficient designs, paving the way for mobile computing and, much later, for today’s boom in highly specialized chips for AI and accelerators.
In parallel, the Soviet line evolved with increasingly advanced processors — including those associated with the Elbrus architecture — but the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and the opening of markets ultimately consolidated the dominance of Western architectures, especially x86 and ARM.
Comparative snapshot of some early and Soviet-era microprocessors
Broadly speaking, the early 1970s and the first wave of Soviet competition can be summarized like this:
| Microprocessor / Chipset | Approx. year in service or on market | Country / Bloc | Architecture (bits) | Type / Primary approach | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MP944 (CADC) | 1971 (in service in the F-14) | USA | 20-bit (LSI set) | Multi-chip specialized processor set | Flight data computer for the F-14 Tomcat |
| Four-Phase AL1 | 1970 (in commercial systems) | USA | 8-bit (bit-slice) | Modular CPU building block | Four-Phase Systems minicomputers |
| Intel 4004 | 1971 (commercial) | USA | 4-bit | Single-chip general CPU | Busicom calculators, early embedded systems |
| Intel 8008 / 8080 | 1972 / 1974 | USA | 8-bit | General-purpose CPU | Early personal computers, terminals, control systems |
| TI TMS1000 | 1974 | USA | 4-bit | Microcontroller (CPU + ROM + RAM + I/O) | Calculators, consumer electronics |
| Fairchild F8 (3850/51) | 1974 | USA | 8-bit | CPU with split architecture | Embedded systems, industrial control |
| KR580VM80A | ~1977 | USSR | 8-bit | Intel 8080A-compatible clone | Soviet PCs, industrial and military systems |
| 1801VM1 | Early 1980s | USSR | 16-bit (PDP-11 ISA) | PDP-11-compatible CPU | Soviet minicomputers and industrial systems |
Dates are approximate and, in some cases, refer to first deployment in real systems rather than public announcement — especially for military and Eastern Bloc designs.
So… who was actually “first”?
The short answer is that there isn’t a single, absolute winner. There are several “firsts”, depending on how you define microprocessor:
- First LSI processor set acting as a programmable CPU in a real system: the MP944/CADC of the F-14 is a very strong candidate.
- First general-purpose CPU on a single chip, sold as a standard part: Intel’s 4004 still holds that title quite convincingly.
- First commercial microcontroller: TI’s TMS1000 opened the “all-in-one” path for embedded applications.
- First significant Soviet competitors: the KR580VM80A and 1801 family show how the USSR entered the race in its own way, with a heavy focus on compatibility and critical applications.
Rather than dethroning the 4004, revisiting this history helps to see that the birth of the microprocessor was a collective and geopolitical process, spread across military labs, small Silicon Valley companies, industrial giants… and Soviet factories working largely out of sight.
