Nvidia, founded in 1993, became one of the world’s most valuable companies through graphics processors and AI chips.
The company was established by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. Nvidia initially focused on graphics processing units, or GPUs, which made complex visual calculations faster for computer games and professional applications.
Its CUDA software platform helped developers use Nvidia GPUs for general-purpose parallel computing. That capability later became especially important for training and running artificial-intelligence models, creating enormous demand from cloud providers and technology companies.
Nvidia is often confused with a computer manufacturer because its name appears on many graphics cards. It primarily designs chips and related software, while manufacturing is carried out largely by specialized semiconductor foundries.