An integrated circuit, or IC, is a small chip that contains many electronic components inside one package. Those components can include transistors, resistors, diodes, memory cells, logic gates, or analog circuits.
Why ICs changed electronics
Before integrated circuits, devices needed many separate components wired together. ICs made electronics smaller, faster, cheaper, more reliable, and easier to mass-produce.
Examples of ICs
Microprocessors, memory chips, audio amplifiers, voltage regulators, timers, sensors, and communication chips are all examples. Many are mounted onto a printed circuit board.
In everyday language, an IC is often simply called a chip.