Nvidia designs the GeForce graphics processors that helped drive its rise among the world's most valuable companies.
Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. Its GeForce brand, introduced in 1999, became widely associated with graphics processing for personal computers and gaming. Nvidia later expanded into professional visualization, automotive computing, data centers, and artificial intelligence.
The company's graphics processing units are particularly suited to performing many calculations in parallel. That capability made them important for machine learning and large-scale AI systems, where demand for accelerated computing helped increase Nvidia's revenue, earnings expectations, and market capitalization.
Nvidia is often confused with AMD because both design graphics and computing products. Nvidia generally uses the GeForce name for consumer graphics processors, while AMD uses Radeon. The two companies compete in several markets but are separate businesses.