The NEC μPD707 and the NEC μPD708 (μPD707/8) is a 2-chip 4-bit microcontroller developed by NEC in December of 1971, just a month after the Intel 4004. The 4004 served an inspiration for NEC which went on to combine the μPD707 and μPD708 into a single chip which came to be known as the μPD751.

History

In early 1970 Nippon Coca-Cola Japan set out to increase the efficiency at their sale points by introducing new POS terminals. Sharp was assigned the job of making those terminals - codename BillPet. Sharp ended up commissioning NEC to design the chip. The chips, named μPD707/8, was designed by a small group of five engineers at NEC. The chipset was complete in December of 1971. The chips began full production in March of 1972.

After hearing about the Intel 4004, NEC later combined the two chips in the μPD751 - the first Japanese single-chip microprocessor.

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