Nvidia was founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem.
The three engineers formed the company to develop graphics processors, initially focusing on the growing demands of computer games. Huang had worked at LSI Logic and AMD, while Malachowsky and Priem had worked at Sun Microsystems. The founders famously discussed their plans at a Denny’s restaurant in East San Jose.
Nvidia was formally incorporated on April 5, 1993, with Huang becoming president and chief executive. The company began with only a small amount of founder capital before attracting venture investment from firms including Sequoia Capital and Sutter Hill Ventures. Its name is commonly linked to invidia, the Latin word for “envy.”
A common mix-up is confusing Nvidia with AMD or Intel, both major chip companies and competitors. Nvidia initially became known for gaming graphics chips, but its later growth was driven by graphics-processing technology used in professional visualization, data centers, and artificial intelligence.