Nvidia (nasdaq: NVDA, ) is a multinational corporation specializing in the development of graphics processing units and chipset technologies for workstations, personal computers, and mobile devices. Based in Santa Clara, California, the company has become a major supplier of integrated circuits (ICs) such as graphics processing units (GPUs) and chipsets used in graphics cards, and video-game consoles and personal-computer motherboards.

Notable Nvidia product lines include the GeForce series for gaming, the Quadro series for computer aided design and digital content creation on workstations, and the nForce series of integrated motherboard chipsets.

Company history

Jen-Hsun Huang (the CEO), Curtis Priem, and Chris Malachowsky co-founded the company in 1993 with venture-capital funding from Sequoia Capital.

In 2000 Nvidia acquired the intellectual assets of its one-time rival 3dfx, one of the biggest graphics companies of the mid- to late-1990s.

On December 14, 2005, Nvidia acquired ULI Electronics, which at the time supplied third-party Southbridge parts for chipsets to ATI, Nvidia's competitor. In March 2006, Nvidia acquired Hybrid Graphics and on January 5, 2007, it announced that it had completed the acquisition of PortalPlayer, Inc.

In December 2006 Nvidia, along with its main rival in the graphics industry AMD (which acquired ATI), received subpoenas from the Justice Department regarding possible antitrust violations in the graphics card industry.

Forbes magazine named Nvidia its Company of the Year for 2007, citing the accomplishments it made during the said period as well as during the previous 5 years.

In February 2008 Nvidia acquired Ageia Technologies for an undisclosed sum. "The purchase reflects both companies1 shared goal of creating the most amazing and captivating game experiences", said Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia. "By combining the teams that created the world's most pervasive GPU and physics engine brands, we can now bring GeForce-accelerated PhysX to twelve million gamers around the world." (The press-releaseFact: date=April 2008 made no mention of the acquisition-cost nor of specific products.)

The company's name combines an initial n — a letter usable as a pronumeral in mathematical statements — and the root of video— which comes from Latin videre, "to see", thus implying "the best visual experience"Fact: date=September 2007 or perhaps "immeasurable display".Or: date=December 2008 The name NVIDIA suggests "envy" (Spanish envidia or in Latin, Italian, or Romanian invidia); and Nvidia's GeForce 8 series product uses the slogan "Green with envy". The company-name appears entirely in upper-case ("NVIDIA") in company technical documentation.

Products