How Nvidia Rose from Obscurity to Stardom and What’s Next

Last summer, Nvidia briefly became the most valuable company in the world, above both Microsoft and Apple. Since then, they have had many ups and downs, dealing with antitrust investigations and competition from the Chinese AI market. They had the fastest rise and the fastest fall (twice). So, who are they and why should you care?

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The birth of a new era in computer graphics

On 5 April 1993, engineers Jensen Huang, Chris Malachowski and Curtis Priem sat down at a Denny’s in California and decided to found a new tech startup. Their initial focus was graphics-based processing, as they saw this would be an area demanding major development – video games especially required very advanced graphics solutions and had huge sales potential. Six years later, in late 1999, they released the world’s first graphics processing unit (more simply known as the GPU): the GeForce 256. It outperformed other existing solutions by a large margin with its ability to solve complex tasks at greater speed by parallel processing, optimising graphics and 3D gaming performance. The success of this revolutionary product started a journey that today puts them among the biggest tech companies in the world.

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After the release of the GeForce 256, Nvidia was awarded the contract to develop graphics hardware for Microsoft’s Xbox, and in 2004, they began working with Sony to develop the graphics processor for the PlayStation 3 console. These major contracts helped Nvidia expand into the market as an OEM, or original equipment manufacturer, for major companies and products. They helped the field of computer graphics leap forward and solidified their position as a trusted manufacturer. However, this also meant that the company remained relatively unknown to mainstream consumers, as most of their products were components within other products, such as gaming consoles or laptop computers.

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Launch into cryptocurrency and AI

The cryptocurrency boom brought Nvidia its next major wave of success. Cryptocurrency mining requires capacity to solve complex mathematical problems, in which GPUs are much faster at doing compared to CPUs. Some of the biggest cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, can be mined using GPUs. As Nvidia was already at the forefront of the GPU market, it was natural for them to become a top choice for people looking to mine cryptocurrencies, and they also developed dedicated GPUs for cryptocurrency mining. The crypto boom and the related success for Nvidia eventually cooled but the next opportunity was already around the corner.

The latest and by far most significant event in Nvidia’s success story has been the AI revolution. The company has been involved in the field of AI since the “big bang” of deep learning in 2009, when Nvidia GPUs were used with deep learning neural networks to increase processing power, so they have established a foothold in the field from the start. As the AI revolution gained even more momentum in 2020 and GPUs were undoubtedly the most efficient way to increase the processing speed needed for advanced AI systems, Nvidia further strengthened their position as an essential player in the field. Their chips have become so coveted by companies developing AI systems that they are barely able to keep up with demand, picking and choosing which projects to work with.

Besides their GPUs, they also developed CUDA in the mid-2000s, a platform and programming interface allowing developers to harness GPUs for more general-purpose tasks. It allows for GPUs to be used in parallel computing, in which many calculations or processes are carried out in parallel. This is useful for fields that require high-performance computing, including AI as well as scientific and medical research. With their strong hold on the market, Nvidia has worked with Toyota and Tesla to develop autonomous driving systems and provided chips for pretty much every major AI project out there – their partners include Google, Microsoft, Meta, IBM, Fujitsu and OpenAI. Their stock skyrocketed and in June 2024, they were worth over $3 trillion, becoming the most valuable company in the world by market cap. As of end March (2025), they are the third most valuable after Apple and Microsoft.

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Ups and downs

On 3 September 2024 Bloomberg reported that Nvidia had received a subpoena from the Department of Justice as part of an antitrust investigation that seemed to be escalating. This resulted in a sudden fall in their market value, as Nvidia shares plunged by over 9%, resulting in the (at the time) biggest one-day market capitalization drop for a U.S. stock in history, totalling $279 billion in value. However, their stock recovered quickly and they claimed that the information was false (the Department of Justice didn’t offer any comment). There have since been antitrust investigations launched by China and the European Commission, as well.

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Until recently, Nvidia’s products were an essential infrastructure element for every major AI project, but their position has recently been threatened by China’s DeepSeek, which claimed to have developed much cheaper technology without using the newest Nvidia chips to rival OpenAI and similar systems. This caused Nvidia to have the biggest one-day market cap loss in history again on 27 January, this time losing almost $600 billion. Once more, they recovered at least partly, and are still considered the most important GPU manufacturers in the world, with big tech companies in line to get their newest product. But for how long?

The recent actions of the Trump Administration have led to a "breakup" with Europe, steering the U.S. towards an increasingly isolationist path. This shift has resulted in the alienation of traditional allies, including Canada and NATO countries, while fostering closer ties with authoritarian regimes. Consequently, the American stock market has experienced significant declines. The full extent of this downturn remains uncertain and may be temporary. However, if Europe decides to invest more heavily in its own technology sector, the U.S. may face increased competition, potentially prolonging or deepening the market slump up to a recession.

Nvidia went from being an unknown technology startup to an innovator in computer chips to a main powerhouse of the AI revolution in just three decades. They revolutionized the way computer graphics and high-performance computing work with the chip we know as the GPU, and they continue to build on this technology to power some of the most exciting technological advancements today. Despite facing certain legal threats and potential competitors, Nvidia and their position in the field seem to be here to stay – for now.

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