Federico Faggin

intel4004.com

Federico Faggin (born December 1, 1941) is an Italian-born physicist/electrical engineer, principally responsible for the design of the first microprocessor and responsible for leading the 4004 (MCS-4) project to its successful outcome and for promoting its marketing. He also designed/led the design and was the vital force during the first five years of Intel's microprocessor effort. He continued to play a pacesetting role as founder and CEO of Zilog, the first company solely dedicated to microprocessors, for the next five years.


Intel 4004D

The Intel 4004 is one of world's most sought-after collectible/antique chips. Of highest value are 4004s that are gold and white, with so-called 'grey traces' visible on the white ceramic (the original package type). As of 2005, such chips have reached around US$1000 each on eBay. The slightly less valuable white and gold chips without grey traces typically reach $300 to $500. Those chips without a 'date code' underneath are earlier versions, and therefore worth slightly more. More recently however, these vintage ICs have been dropping in value due to their relative abundance as the market is now flooded with surplus stock from sellers looking to cash in on the Intel craze.