Nvidia was founded in 1993, before becoming a leading company in graphics and artificial-intelligence chips.
Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem founded Nvidia in 1993. The company initially focused on graphics processing technology for personal computers and later developed the CUDA software platform, which enabled general-purpose computing on graphics processors.
That foundation became especially valuable for machine learning, because GPUs can perform many calculations in parallel. Demand for data-center accelerators and AI infrastructure subsequently transformed Nvidia into one of the world’s most valuable companies by market capitalization.
Nvidia is often described as a chipmaker, but it primarily designs processors and related software. Manufacturing is carried out by outside foundries, including TSMC, rather than mainly in Nvidia-owned fabrication plants.