Marcian Hoff

Marcian Hoff

Marcian Edward "Ted" Hoff, Jr. (born October 28, 1937 in Rochester, New York), is one of the inventors of the microprocessor. Hoff joined Intel in 1967 as employee number 12, and is credited with coming up with the idea of using a "universal processor" rather than a variety of custom-designed circuits. His insight started the microprocessor revolution in the early 1970s. He is frequently credited with having invented the microprocessor in 1971, although he proposed the architectural idea and an instruction set formulated with Stanley Mazor in 1969. It was Federico Faggin who, in 1970-1971, independently from Hoff, developed the silicon-gate design methodology and did the actual chip design that was essential to the realization of the first microprocessor In 1985, Hoff was named the first Intel Fellow, which is the highest technical position in the company. He stayed in that position until 1988.