The Intel 8080. It didn't revolutionize microprocessors - it created the microprocessor market. "The 4004 and 8008 suggested it, but the 8080 made it real," said Federico Faggin, Intel's lead designer for the 8080 and its predecessor processors, the 4004 and 8008. Prior to the 8080's launch in 1974, Intel mostly made chips designed for specific types of customers and their needs. And though the 4004 and 8008 were later used in applications beyond their original use cases, general use was not the original design goal. The 4004, for example, was originally designed for Busicom's 141-PF printing calculator, and the 8008 for Computer Terminal Corporation's Datapoint 2200 programmable terminal.

Faggin designed the 8080 in direct response to feedback from 8008 customers who reported the earlier chip's design restricted the scale and complexity of the software they wanted to create. The resulting new 8-bit chip was more efficient, more powerful and more flexible - capable of 290,000 operations per second (10 times that of the 8008). And with a 40-pin configuration, it made connecting to other components easier than the 8008's 18-pin design. The 8080 also integrated the functions of the supporting chips that the 4004 and 8008 needed, making it a true single-chip microprocessor.