The main activity of the company is the development and production of graphics processing units (GPU). Same way NVIDIA Corporation develops media processors and chipsets. The solutions produced by the company are used in mobile devices, game consoles, desktop computers, as well as supercomputers.
The company was founded in 1993. It was created by three people: Jen-Hsun Huang, Curtis Priem and Chris Malachowsky. The first graphic solutions of the company appeared in 1995 - NV1. Video cards based on NV1 were produced by the company SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics.
The name of the company is a very curious combination. The letter "N" comes from mathematics, where it usually means a natural number. "VIDIA" is derived from the Latin word "videre" (to look, to see). As a result, something like “multiple vision”, “n-fold vision” turned out. The name NVIDIA is consonant with the Spanish word "envidia" (envy), which gave the idea for an unusual advertising slogan for GeForce 8 series GPUs - "Green with envy" (Green with envy), with a hint of competitors and their products.
Almost from the first days of its existence, NVIDIA had to face serious competition from 3dfx Interactive, which then produced great solutions for the gaming market. However, Nvidia not only survived, but in 2000 acquired its competitor, which few people remember now.
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| two video cards based on GeForce GTX 295, in SLI mode (photo from the official site) |
Unlike 3dfx, NVIDIA was not limited to the market of gaming systems. The company's first graphics solution designed specifically for workstations appeared in 1999 with the NVIDIA Quadro. In the same year, the first graphics processor for mobile devices appeared - NVIDIA GeForce2 Go.
The company was not just doing well at the time, it was doing great. Yes, in 2001 NVIDIA was recognized as the most prosperous semiconductor company.
In 2004, the GoForce 3D 4500 3D media processor for mobile devices appears - the first in the world. In general, the entire history of the company is the history of creating more and more "advanced" processors. As well as awards and prizes that they have received. The company itself has also been noted more than once - for example, in 2007 it became the "company of the year", according to Forbes.
Recent years have passed under the sign of the struggle with the company ATI (AMD). This struggle is not over to this day, going on with varying success.
The company's headquarters is located in Santa Clara, California (Santa Clara, California USA). Branches are located all over the world.
The main products of the company:
TNT® – solutions for gaming systems (out of production)
GeForce® – solutions for gaming systems
Quadro™ – professional solutions
Tegra™ – media processor designed specifically for mobile devices
Tesla™ - everything related to supercomputers
ION - system for portable computers based on the Atom processor
