Comment by kens

I'm glad to see the Datapoint 2200 is getting attention, but by reasonable definitions of "microprocessor", the Intel 4004 was first, the Texas Instruments TMX 1795 was second, and the Intel 8008 was third. It seems like you're ruling out the 4004 on the basis of "intent" since it was designed for a calculator. But my view is that the 4004 is a programmable, general-purpose CPU-on-a-chip, so it's a microprocessor. Much as I'd like to rule out the 4004 as the first microprocessor, I don't see any justifiable grounds to do this.

Intel's real innovation—the thing that made the microprocessor important—was creating the microprocessor as a product category. Selling a low-cost general-purpose processor chip to anyone who wanted it is what created the modern computer industry. By this perspective, too, the 4004 was the first microprocessor, creating the category.

My article in IEEE Spectrum on this subject goes into much more detail: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-surprising-story-of-the-first-...