The microprocessor (aka CPU) emerged almost by accident. In 1969, a Japanese company called Busicom contracted @intel to design a set of 12 chips for a new calculator. Intel engineers proposed replacing the 12 custom chips with a single general-purpose programmable processor. The result was the Intel 4004, released in 1971 - widely regarded as the first commercial CPU. Crucially, Intel almost didn't retain the rights. Busicom originally owned them, but Intel bought them back for $60,000 when Busicom hit financial trouble - a decision that would prove extraordinarily valuable. The CPU was a side project, a secondary product line born from a calculator contract, while memory was the main business. It eventually became the main business. The reversal took about 15 years and required a deliberate, painful strategic pivot to complete.