On September 27, 1960, using the ideas of Noyce and Hoerni, a group of Jay Last's at Fairchild Semiconductor created the first operational semiconductor IC. ht

On September 27, 1960, using the ideas of Noyce and Hoerni, a group of Jay Last's at Fairchild Semiconductor created the first operational semiconductor IC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_integrated_circuit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_integrated_cir... I'd guess it's because 1957 was a few years too early for ICs, which is where the real shrinkage came from. More powerful computers require more switches, and without ICs that takes more space (and power & cooling).