Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem and later became a leading high-market-cap chip designer.
The founders established Nvidia to develop graphics processors capable of handling advanced visual computing. The company’s early success came from graphics processing units, or GPUs, used in personal computers and video games. Nvidia’s GeForce line became especially important in consumer graphics.
Its GPUs later found major applications in data centers, scientific computing, and artificial intelligence. Unlike a traditional CPU, a GPU can perform many similar calculations in parallel, making it useful for training and running machine-learning models. That expansion greatly increased investor interest in Nvidia’s growth prospects.
Nvidia is often described as a chip designer rather than a manufacturer that operates its own large fabrication network. It relies on foundry partners to produce many chips. Market capitalization can rise sharply when investors expect future demand, so the company’s valuation has sometimes moved faster than its current sales.