Computer chip technology is in all sorts of everyday items, from space shuttles to coffee makers, traffic lights, and computers. A basic rule of thumb is, if a device uses electricity and you can "tell it what to do" by programming it or customizing it, there's a chip inside.

Chips perform various tasks by design, meaning that some are more complex than others. The most sophisticated chip is a microprocessor, whose transistors can execute hundreds of millions of instructions per second.

A microprocessor is the most complex manufactured product on earth. In fact, it takes hundreds of steps in the world's cleanest environment to make microprocessors.