Nvidia developed the GeForce graphics-processing brand and became a market-cap giant through AI computing.
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. The company became known for graphics processing units, or GPUs, which were first strongly associated with computer graphics and video games. GeForce is Nvidia's consumer graphics brand.
GPUs can perform many calculations in parallel, making them useful for scientific computing and machine-learning systems. As demand for generative artificial intelligence grew, Nvidia's data-center chips and software became central parts of many AI infrastructure systems.
Nvidia is a chip designer rather than a conventional semiconductor foundry. It generally outsources physical manufacturing to foundries such as TSMC. This distinction is important because Nvidia designs processors, while a foundry manufactures chips according to supplied designs.