NVIDIA Corporation
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Join Britannica's Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work!NVIDIA Corporation, global corporation that manufactures graphics processors, mobile technologies, and desktop computers. The company was founded in 1993 by three American computer scientists, Jen-Hsun Huang, Curtis Priem, and Christopher Malachowsky. NVIDIA is known for developing integrated circuits, which are used in everything from electronic game consoles to personal computers (PCs). The company is a leading manufacturer of high-end graphics processing units (GPUs). NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.
NVIDIA became a major force in the computer gaming industry with the launch of the RIVA series of graphics processors in 1997. Two years later, the company gained prominence with the release of the GeForce 256 GPU, which offered superior three-dimensional graphics quality. NVIDIA battled with prominent video card maker 3dfx Interactive, pitting the GeForce against 3dfx Interactive’s popular Voodoo technologies. NVIDIA eventually prevailed and purchased 3dfx Interactive’s remaining assets in 2000. That same year, Microsoft Corporation selected NVIDIA to develop graphics cards for Microsoft’s long-awaited Xbox video game console. In 2007, NVIDIA was honoured as Company of the Year by Forbes magazine for its rapid growth and success.
In addition to products for the computer gaming industry, NVIDIA’s extensive array of computing technologies includes the Quadro series of video cards for professional graphics, the Tegra series for cellular phones, the nForce series for multimedia functions, and the Tesla series for high-end business and scientific-research computers.
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integrated circuitIntegrated circuit (IC) , an assembly of electronic components, fabricated as a single unit, in which miniaturized active devices (e.g., transistors and diodes) and passive devices (e.g., capacitors and resistors) and their interconnections are built up on a thin substrate of semiconductor material (typically… -
electronic gameElectronic game , any interactive game operated by computer circuitry. The machines, or “platforms,” on which electronic games are played include general-purpose shared and personal computers, arcade consoles, video consoles connected to home television sets, handheld game machines, mobile devices such as cellular phones,… -
personal computerPersonal computer (PC) , a digital computer designed for use by only one person at a time. A typical personal computer assemblage consists of a central processing unit (CPU), which contains the computer’s arithmetic, logic, and control circuitry on an integrated circuit; two types of computer memory, main memory, such as…
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