Nvidia introduced the GeForce 256 in 1999 after beginning as a graphics-chip designer.
Nvidia announced the GeForce 256 on August 31, 1999, describing it as the world’s first graphics processing unit, or GPU. The product was designed for personal computers and aimed to handle graphics calculations that had traditionally relied more heavily on the central processing unit.
The GeForce brand became a major part of Nvidia’s consumer graphics business. Later generations improved 3D rendering, programmable shading, and support for increasingly sophisticated games and visual applications.
Nvidia’s work eventually expanded into professional visualization, automotive computing, data centers, and artificial intelligence. The term GPU is now used broadly, but the GeForce 256 is historically important because Nvidia helped popularize it as a distinct category. It should not be confused with Nvidia’s later Tesla and H100 data-center product families.