Nvidia designs graphics processors and introduced the CUDA parallel-computing platform in 2006.
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. It first focused on graphics hardware for personal computers, an area that expanded rapidly with the growth of 3D games.
CUDA lets developers use compatible Nvidia graphics processors for general-purpose parallel computing rather than only for drawing images. That capability became important in scientific computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence.
Nvidia's market capitalization surged as demand for data-center accelerators grew. GPUs and CPUs are different kinds of processors, although Nvidia now develops both; its best-known competitive strength has historically been graphics and parallel-computing hardware.