In 1937, Howard Aiken proposed a new kind of calculating machine. He wrote in his proposal, "There exist problems beyond our ability to solve, not because of theoretical difficulties, but because of insufficient means of mechanical computation." In 1939, four IBM engineers and Aiken began design and construction at IBM, Endicott, N.Y. of this large scale automatic digital calculator.

The Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator, or Mark I, as it is usually called, was designed to perform computations by following automatically a sequence of instructions prepared by a programmer.