Recognizing the 60th anniversary of the transistor – a key component in a microprocessor – Intel President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini displays the projected size of today’s Intel® 45nm processors if the transistors were identical to those in Intel’s first product in 1971. Intel’s innovations in transistor design ensure PCs and mobile devices are smaller, faster and more energy-efficient than ever.

While the Intel 4004 processor in 1971 housed some 2,300 transistors, our recently introduced Intel® 45nm Core™ 2 Extreme processor holds more than 820 million transistors.

Photo by Erin Lubin