Federico Faggin is the engineer most directly responsible for turning the idea of a single-chip CPU into a manufacturable product. Born in Italy in 1941, he began his career in MOS process technology before moving to California. The Computer History Museum’s profile records that at Fairchild Semiconductor he created MOS silicon-gate technology, which it describes as the basis of all modern CMOS integrated circuits. That process, which let designers pack more transistors at higher speed onto a die, is what made a single-chip processor feasible.
Faggin joined Intel in 1970 and led the implementation of the MCS-4 family. According to the CHM profile, he and Masatoshi Shima designed all four integrated circuits of the MCS-4, the family recognized as the world’s first commercial microprocessor. The museum’s Intel 4004 oral history panel, recorded with the surviving team members, similarly credits Faggin with converting the architectural concept developed by Ted Hoff and Stan Mazor into the four MOS silicon-gate chips that became that first microprocessor set.
After the 4004, Faggin led the design of Intel’s 8008 and 8080 processors, applying his silicon-gate methodology to the random-logic design these chips required. The 8080 in particular became a workhorse of the early personal-computer industry, powering machines such as the Altair 8800.
In 1974 he left Intel and cofounded Zilog with Ralph Ungermann, the first company devoted entirely to microprocessors. The CHM profile notes that at Zilog he conceived and architected the Z80 microprocessor and directed its development, serving as president and CEO until 1980. The Z80 became one of the most widely used 8-bit processors ever made.
Faggin later cofounded Synaptics in 1986, a company that pioneered the touchpad and touchscreen technologies that became standard on laptops and phones. His contributions have been recognized with the Kyoto Prize, shared in 1997, and the United States National Medal of Technology, shared in 2009 with his 4004 colleagues Ted Hoff and Stan Mazor.