Intel - The Component Branding Saga

Thanks to Intel that made the chip inside the personal computer (PC) so popular. Intel had been able to bring about this change, primarily due to its focused R&D and product development efforts. However, its biggest success lay perhaps in its well-etched and executed marketing strategies devised, over the years, to promote Intel as a brand.

Through its efforts Intel became synonymous with computer microprocessor chips and the undisputed industry leader. The company had an 80% share of the global microprocessor market - leading not only in terms of sales revenues, but also in terms of innovation.

The result was the formation of Intel (an abbreviation for Integrated Electronics) at Mountain View, California.

Intel's first commercial product was the '3101 Schottky bipolar 64-bit static random access memory' (SRAM) chip. To meet the requirements of a Japanese company, Busicom, that manufactured calculators, Intel made a microprocessor chip that performed the function of 12 silicon chips put together.

Named 4004², the world's first microprocessor chip was released in 1971. This chip could compute as fast as the ENIAC³, the fastest computer available those days.