If you are interested in that kind of history, you should read a paper entitled “Electronic Computing Circuits of the ENIAC” by [Arthur W. Burks]. These mid-century designers used tubes and ...

That first chip was called the 4004. It was 1/8" by 1/16" with 2300 transistors etched into the silicon. And all by itself it was as powerful as ENIAC, the early (mammoth at 30 tons!) computer ...