A US corporation that is a leading manufacturer of integrated circuits (chips), particularly noted for its important range of microprocessor chips. The current range includes the Pentium, Xeon, Celeron, and Itanium families of processors. The Pentium is Intel’s main 32-bit processor and is used by a variety of manufacturers in their products. The Xeon is a high-performance version of the Pentium designed for file servers and workstations. The Celeron is a lower-cost version of the Pentium with a reduced specification. The Itanium is a 64-bit processor. Intel was founded in 1968 and produced the world’s first microprocessor, the Intel 4004, in 1971. Since then, it has steadily improved the power of its chips. The original IBM PC and its successors and clones have all used Intel processors or copies of them. Intel also produces special purpose chip sets for use in specific applications such as mobile phones.