The Evolution of Nvidia: From Graphics 3D to AI Dominance

Amidst the upheaval caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent global lockdowns, Nvidia emerged as a standout performer in the tech industry. Let’s delve into the reasons behind the remarkable growth of the company’s stocks by over 13-fold since that time, approximately four years ago.

**From Graphics 3D to GPU**

Nvidia’s GPUs for graphics 3D have been pivotal in driving the AI boom.

The early days of Nvidia were fraught with challenges. Within the first three years of operation, founder and CEO Jensen Huang had to lay off half of the workforce while striving to complete and bring to market the 3D graphics accelerator RIVA 128. Despite facing the brink of bankruptcy after utilizing $20 million in venture capital funding, Nvidia eventually found success, with RIVA 128 sales propelling the company’s finances sufficiently to go public in 1999.

Soon after, Nvidia released its first Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), the GeForce 256, which was crucial for accelerating 3D hardware for video content, leading to the company securing contracts to design graphics chips for the Microsoft XBOX and Sony PlayStation 3 RSX consoles. In 2012, the company’s GPU units became indispensable for powering the AlexNet neural network, pioneering the commercialization of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

As Nvidia expanded, it diversified its product line, including the RTX GPU series in 2018, which spearheaded real-time ray tracing rendering. This method of graphics rendering replicates the physical behavior of light, contributing to the success in virtual reality and video game graphics and AI.

High-profile partnerships with Toyota, Baidu, and Alphabet (then Google in 2018) followed shortly after.

**Success During the Pandemic Times**

Nvidia’s Cambridge-1 is the largest supercomputer in the UK utilizing AI in medical research.

In stark contrast to the thousands of companies that suffered due to government-mandated local lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic, Nvidia was not among them.

AI proved to be Nvidia’s winning card in the race to the top. Nvidia continued refining its GPU offerings and forging new partnerships to expand AI applications. In October 2020, Nvidia announced plans to design the Cambridge-1 supercomputer. In collaboration with AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, King’s College London, Guy’s and St. Thomas NHS Foundation, and other organizations, Nvidia’s Cambridge-1 is the largest supercomputer in the UK and was specifically designed for healthcare research in the UK since its launch in 2021.

Nvidia also announced plans to acquire the British semiconductor manufacturer Arm from Softbank for $32 billion, but had to withdraw after the European Commission initiated an antitrust investigation. Nevertheless, as reported by Forbes, Nvidia still held shares in Arm worth $147.3 million by the end of February 2024.

**FAQ**

**What is a GPU?**
A GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit, is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer for output to a display device.

**What is AI?**
AI, or Artificial Intelligence, refers to the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems, to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation.

**Sources:**
– [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com)

**Note:** The future of the industry in which Nvidia operates seems promising, according to market forecasts.

The source of the article is from the blog newyorkpostgazette.com