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In 1968, Gilbert Hyatt took the integrated circuit a step further by including in one place all the pieces necessary to operate a computer (except memory and interface). He applied for a patent on this microprocessor in 1970. The following year, while his paper work wended its way through the patent office, three engineers from Intel Corporation created the first commercially viable microprocessor. Thus they have usually been credited with its invention. But in 1990, the U.S. Patent Office gave that recognition to Hyatt. Intel's 4004 (4-bit) microprocessor was the on the market, however, and in 1974 they added the 8080 (8-bit), sixteen times more powerful. This was the hardware for the first popular microcomputer, the Altair 8800.

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