Editing Intel (section)

===SRAMs, DRAMs, and the microprocessor===
Intel's first products were [[shift register]] memory and random-access [[Primary storage|memory]] integrated circuits, and Intel grew to be a leader in the fiercely competitive [[dynamic random-access memory|DRAM]], [[static random-access memory|SRAM]], and [[read-only memory|ROM]] markets throughout the 1970s. Concurrently, Intel engineers [[Marcian Hoff]], [[Federico Faggin]], [[Stanley Mazor]], and [[Masatoshi Shima]] invented Intel's first [[microprocessor]]. Originally developed for the Japanese company [[Busicom]] to replace a number of [[Application-specific integrated circuit|ASICs]] in a calculator already produced by Busicom, the [[Intel 4004]] was introduced to the mass market on November 15, 1971, though the microprocessor did not become the core of Intel's business until the mid-1980s. (Note: Intel is usually given credit with [[Texas Instruments]] for the almost-simultaneous invention of the microprocessor.)

In 1983, at the dawn of the personal computer era, Intel's profits came under increased pressure from Japanese memory-chip manufacturers, and then-president Andy Grove focused the company on microprocessors. Grove described this transition in the book ''[[Only the Paranoid Survive]]''. A key element of his plan was the notion, then considered radical, of becoming the single source for successors to the popular [[Intel 8086|8086]] microprocessor.

Until then, the manufacture of complex integrated circuits was not reliable enough for customers to depend on a single supplier, but Grove began producing processors in three geographically distinct factories,{{which|date=October 2013}} and ceased licensing the chip designs to competitors such as [[Advanced Micro Devices|AMD]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Intel and the x86 Architecture: A Legal Perspective |url=https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/intel-and-the-x86-architecture-a-legal-perspective |access-date=October 17, 2021 |date=January 4, 2011 |archive-date=October 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017024727/https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/intel-and-the-x86-architecture-a-legal-perspective |url-status=live }}</ref> When the PC industry boomed in the late 1980s and 1990s, Intel was one of the primary beneficiaries.