Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. The company invented the graphics processing unit (GPU) in 1999. GPUs drive the computer graphics in games and in applications used by professional designers. Their parallel processing capabilities provide researchers and scientists with the ability to efficiently run high-performance applications, and they are deployed in supercomputing sites around the world. More recently, Nvidia has moved into the mobile computing market, where its processors power phones and tablets, as well as auto infotainment systems. Its competitors include Intel, AMD and Qualcomm.