Editing Nvidia (section)

=== Public company ===
Nvidia went public on January 22, 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Feinstein |first=Ken |date=January 22, 1999 |title=Nvidia Goes Public |url=http://gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-2433,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991012205847/http://gamecenter.com/News/Item/0,3,0-2433,00.html |archive-date=October 12, 1999 |access-date=July 13, 2019 |website=gamecenter.co}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Takahashi |first=Dean |date=January 25, 1999 |title=Shares of Nvidia Surge 64% After Initial Public Offering |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB917224371262043000 |url-access=subscription |access-date=July 13, 2019 |newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |archive-date=April 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190405073139/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB917224371262043000 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=January 22, 1999 |title=NVIDIA Corporation Announces Initial Public Offering of 3,500,000 Shares of Common Stock |url=https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_20020108_6739.html |access-date=July 13, 2019 |website=nvidia.com |archive-date=July 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713074208/https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_20020108_6739.html |url-status=live}}</ref>  Investing in Nvidia after it had already failed to deliver on its contract turned out to be Irimajiri's best decision as Sega's president. After Irimajiri left Sega in 2000, Sega sold its Nvidia stock for $15 million.<ref name="wsj cohen 2024" />

In late 1999, Nvidia released the [[GeForce 256]] (NV10), its first product expressly marketed as a GPU, which was most notable for introducing onboard [[Transform, clipping, and lighting|transformation and lighting]] (T&L) to consumer-level 3D hardware. Running at 120&nbsp;MHz and featuring four-pixel pipelines, it implemented advanced video acceleration, [[motion compensation]], and hardware sub-picture [[Alpha compositing|alpha blending]]. The GeForce outperformed existing products by a wide margin.

Due to the success of its products, Nvidia won the contract to develop the graphics hardware for [[Microsoft]]'s [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] game console, which earned Nvidia a $200 million advance. However, the project took many of its best engineers away from other projects. In the short term this did not matter, and the [[GeForce 2 Series|GeForce2 GTS]] shipped in the summer of 2000. In December 2000, Nvidia reached an agreement to acquire the intellectual assets of its one-time rival [[3dfx Interactive|3dfx]], a pioneer in consumer 3D graphics technology leading the field from the mid-1990s until 2000.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=NVIDIA to Acquire 3dfx Core Graphics Assets |date=December 15, 2000 |location=Santa Clara, CA |url=https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_20010612_6602.html |last1=Perez |first1=Derek |last2=Hara |first2=Michael |access-date=January 23, 2017 |archive-date=March 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330171444/https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_20010612_6602.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |title=3dfx Announces Three Major Initiatives To Protect Creditors and Maximize Shareholder Value |date=December 15, 2000 |location=San Jose, CA |url=http://3dfx.com/rel-15dec_2.htm |quote=Board of Directors Initiates Cost-Cutting Measures, Recommends to Shareholders Sale of Company Assets to NVIDIA Corporation for $112 million and Dissolution of Company |last1=Leupp |first1=Alex |last2=Sellers |first2=Scott |access-date=January 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010205193000/http://3dfx.com/rel-15dec_2.htm |archive-date=February 5, 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The acquisition process was finalized in April 2002.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kanellos |first=Michael |date=April 11, 2002 |title=Nvidia buys out 3dfx graphics chip business |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/nvidia-buys-out-3dfx-graphics-chip-business/ |access-date=January 23, 2017 |website=[[CNET]] |archive-date=January 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119063532/https://www.cnet.com/news/nvidia-buys-out-3dfx-graphics-chip-business/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2001, [[S&P Global Ratings|Standard & Poor's]] selected Nvidia to replace the departing [[Enron]] in the S&P 500 stock index, meaning that index funds would need to hold Nvidia shares going forward.<ref name="Popina">{{cite news |last1=Popina |first1=Elena |last2=Menton |first2=Jess |title=Nvidia Is the Latest Shiny Object to Spur Stocks to New Heights |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-06/nvidia-ai-stocks-are-latest-trend-to-send-s-p-500-to-new-highs |access-date=March 6, 2024 |work=Bloomberg Businessweek |date=March 6, 2024 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=March 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240306100548/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-03-06/nvidia-ai-stocks-are-latest-trend-to-send-s-p-500-to-new-highs |url-status=live}}</ref>

In July 2002, Nvidia acquired Exluna for an undisclosed sum. Exluna made software-rendering tools and the personnel were merged into the Cg project.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Becker |first=David |title=Nvidia buys out Exluna |url=http://news.cnet.com/Nvidia-buys-software-company/2100-1040_3-945553.html |access-date=November 9, 2010 |publisher=News.cnet.com |archive-date=October 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017134328/http://news.cnet.com/Nvidia-buys-software-company/2100-1040_3-945553.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2003, Nvidia acquired MediaQ for approximately US$70 million.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 21, 2003 |title=NVIDIA Completes Purchase of MediaQ |url=http://www.mediaq.com/page/home.html |access-date=August 21, 2016 |website=Press Release |publisher=NVIDIA Corporation |archive-date=January 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109223435/http://www.mediaq.com/page/home.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> It launched [[GoForce]] the following year. On April 22, 2004, Nvidia acquired iReady, also a provider of high-performance [[TCP offload engine]]s and [[iSCSI]] controllers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 22, 2004 |title=NVIDIA Announces Acquisition of iReady |url=https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_12881.html |access-date=August 21, 2016 |website=Press Release |publisher=NVIDIA Corporation |archive-date=December 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231211950/https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_12881.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2004, it was announced that Nvidia would assist [[Sony]] with the design of the graphics processor ([[RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'|RSX]]) for the [[PlayStation 3]] game console. On December 14, 2005, Nvidia acquired [[Acer Laboratories Incorporated|ULI Electronics]], which at the time supplied third-party [[Southbridge (computing)|southbridge]] parts for [[chipset]]s to [[ATI Technologies|ATI]], Nvidia's competitor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=December 14, 2005 |title=NVIDIA to Acquire ULi Electronics, a Leading Developer of Core Logic Technology |url=https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28250.html |access-date=August 21, 2016 |website=Press Release |publisher=NVIDIA Corporation |archive-date=June 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190602092801/https://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_28250.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In March 2006, Nvidia acquired [[Hybrid Graphics]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Tony |date=March 22, 2006 |title=Nvidia acquires Hybrid Graphics – Middleware purchase |url=http://www.reghardware.com/2006/03/22/nvidia_buys_hybrid/ |access-date=August 21, 2016 |website=Hardware |publisher=[[The Register]] |archive-date=January 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116072844/http://www.reghardware.com/2006/03/22/nvidia_buys_hybrid/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> In December 2006, Nvidia, along with its main rival in the graphics industry AMD (which had acquired ATI), received subpoenas from the [[U.S. Department of Justice]] regarding possible antitrust violations in the graphics card industry.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Krazit |first1=Tom |last2=McCarthy |first2=Caroline |date=December 1, 2006 |title=Justice Dept. subpoenas AMD, Nvidia |url=http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6140041.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208175421/http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6140041.html |archive-date=December 8, 2006 |website=New York Times}}</ref>