Nvidia introduced the GeForce 256 in 1999 and marketed it as the world's first graphics processing unit, or GPU.
Nvidia had been founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky, and Curtis Priem. Before the GeForce 256, graphics boards were commonly described as 3D accelerators or graphics cards. Nvidia used the GPU label to emphasize that its chip performed geometry and lighting calculations that had previously placed more work on the computer's central processor.
The GeForce 256 was a major step in the evolution of consumer 3D graphics. It supported hardware transformation and lighting, features that improved visual performance in games and professional applications. The term GPU later became standard across the industry.
The product should not be confused with Nvidia's later CUDA platform or modern AI accelerators. Those developments expanded GPU use well beyond graphics, especially into scientific computing and machine learning.