Nvidia introduced the GeForce 256 in 1999 as the first GPU.
Nvidia announced the GeForce 256 in August 1999 and released it later that year. The company marketed it as the world's first graphics processing unit, or GPU, because it combined graphics rendering with transform and lighting calculations that had previously been handled by the computer's central processor.
The GeForce 256 replaced Nvidia's earlier RIVA product branding. It used the company's first-generation hardware transform-and-lighting engine and helped establish “GPU” as a standard term in computer graphics. The name “GeForce” continued through later generations of Nvidia graphics products.
A common mix-up is confusing the GeForce 256 with the GeForce 2, which followed in 2000. Nvidia's later CUDA platform and modern AI accelerators expanded the GPU's role far beyond gaming, but the GeForce 256 is the product associated with the original GPU designation.