Microchips, technically called integrated circuits, are miniature marvels of engineering, typically made from silicon and containing millions or even billions of microscopic electronic components like transistors. These components work together to process data, perform calculations, and control functions, acting as the operational core for nearly all modern electronics. You find them everywhere: in smartphones, computers, televisions, cars, washing machines, sophisticated medical devices, and critical infrastructure. This ubiquity makes the semiconductor industry, responsible for designing and manufacturing microchips, a massive global market worth well over $500 billion annually, underpinning vast sectors of the world’s economy.

While Jack Kilby at Texas Instruments and Robert Noyce at Fairchild Semiconductor invented the first integrated circuits around 1958-1959, U.S. government funding and demand were crucial for turning this invention into a practical technology. Specifically, the U.S. Air Force required highly reliable, small electronics for its Minuteman missile guidance systems in the early 1960s, providing large, vital early orders. Simultaneously, NASA needed advanced, lightweight computers for the Apollo program, contracting MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory to design the groundbreaking Apollo Guidance Computer, which heavily used early microchips. This military and space agency demand guaranteed a market, funded crucial manufacturing advancements, and drastically lowered costs, paving the way for commercial use.