AI Term of the Moment
AI processing
Definition: NVIDIA
(NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, California) The leading designer of graphics processing units (GPUs) for 3D graphics and AI. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem, two years later, NVIDIA launched the NV1, its first multimedia processor. NVIDIA designs its own chips, which are made by TSMC. To say NVIDIA has been successful is an understatement. In 2025, it became the first public company in the world to reach a $5 trillion valuation.
GeForce and RTX for 3D Graphics
For years, graphics cards were NVIDIA's main product line. Today, it continues to offer graphics cards under its GeForce RTX brand; however, more than a dozen third parties use NVIDIA GPUs in their own graphics cards. Earlier NVIDIA brands were Quadro and Titan. NVIDIA has also made a system-on-chip for gaming consoles and mobile products (see Tegra). See GeForce.
NVIDIA Took Off in the 21st Century
As AI blasted onto the scene in the early 2020s, NVIDIA took a front-row seat. With its mastery of graphics, NVIDIA optimized its GPUs for AI. Sometimes known as a neural processing unit (NPU) and AI accelerator, the AI GPU shares a similar architecture with the graphics GPU, namely the parallel processing of massive amounts of numbers. However, the addition of Google's Tensor architecture in 2017 was a major leap towards AI mastery (see Tensor core).
The AI Factory
Not just GPUs, but NVIDIA offers AI data centers, or "AI factories," complete server racks with GPUs, CPUs, networking and cooling (see Vera Rubin). NVIDIA provides the complete hardware and software infrastructure for AI training and inference.
NVIDIA and Quantum Computing
In 2025, the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC) began operations using NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to help correct qubit errors. In 2026, the IonQ-NVIDIA partnership was announced to install the first quantum computer in NVAQC. GPUs are expected to work in tandem with quantum computers to reduce errors. See quantum computing and CUDA-Q.
An NVIDIA PC
As strange as it may seem coming from a company that receives multi-million-dollar orders for its products, NVIDIA actually has a desktop PC for AI processing (see DGX Spark). See A100, H100, DGX, Grace Hopper Superchip and Blackwell.
Inside NVIDIA Headquarters
GeForce and RTX for 3D Graphics
For years, graphics cards were NVIDIA's main product line. Today, it continues to offer graphics cards under its GeForce RTX brand; however, more than a dozen third parties use NVIDIA GPUs in their own graphics cards. Earlier NVIDIA brands were Quadro and Titan. NVIDIA has also made a system-on-chip for gaming consoles and mobile products (see Tegra). See GeForce.
NVIDIA Took Off in the 21st Century
As AI blasted onto the scene in the early 2020s, NVIDIA took a front-row seat. With its mastery of graphics, NVIDIA optimized its GPUs for AI. Sometimes known as a neural processing unit (NPU) and AI accelerator, the AI GPU shares a similar architecture with the graphics GPU, namely the parallel processing of massive amounts of numbers. However, the addition of Google's Tensor architecture in 2017 was a major leap towards AI mastery (see Tensor core).
The AI Factory
Not just GPUs, but NVIDIA offers AI data centers, or "AI factories," complete server racks with GPUs, CPUs, networking and cooling (see Vera Rubin). NVIDIA provides the complete hardware and software infrastructure for AI training and inference.
NVIDIA and Quantum Computing
In 2025, the NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center (NVAQC) began operations using NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs to help correct qubit errors. In 2026, the IonQ-NVIDIA partnership was announced to install the first quantum computer in NVAQC. GPUs are expected to work in tandem with quantum computers to reduce errors. See quantum computing and CUDA-Q.
An NVIDIA PC
As strange as it may seem coming from a company that receives multi-million-dollar orders for its products, NVIDIA actually has a desktop PC for AI processing (see DGX Spark). See A100, H100, DGX, Grace Hopper Superchip and Blackwell.
NVIDIA's home office in Santa Clara, California is about as space age as its products.