Nvidia introduced the GeForce 256 in 1999 and became a leading designer of graphics processing units.
Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem, Nvidia initially focused on graphics hardware for personal computers. The GeForce line helped establish the company in gaming, while its professional graphics products served designers and engineers.
Nvidia later promoted the use of graphics processors for general-purpose parallel computing through its CUDA platform, introduced in 2006. That technology helped make Nvidia hardware important in scientific computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, in addition to games.
A common mix-up is treating Nvidia as a computer-chip manufacturer. Nvidia primarily designs chips and platforms, while manufacturing is handled largely by outside foundries. Demand for data-center accelerators has been a major factor behind its extraordinary market value.