Fourth generation of computer

After the invention of the integrated circuit, the next step in the computer design process was to reduce the overall size.  Large scale integration (LSI) could fit hundreds of components onto one chip.  By the 1980's, very large scale integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of components onto a chip.  Ultra-large scale integration (ULSI) increased that number into the millions. It also increased their power, efficiency and reliability.  The Intel 4004 chip, developed in 1971, took the integrated circuit one step further by locating all the components of a computer (central processing unit, memory, and input and output controls) on a minute chip.