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List of graphics chips and card companies

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During the 1980s and 1990s, a relatively large number of companies appeared selling primarily 2D graphics cards and later 3D. Most of those companies have subsequently disappeared, as the increasing complexity of GPUs substantially increased research and development costs. Many of these companies subsequently went bankrupt or were bought out. Amongst the notable discrete graphics card vendors, AMD and Nvidia are the only ones that have lasted. In 2022, Intel entered the discrete GPU market with the Arc series and has three more generations confirmed on two year release schedules.

There are currently 98 manufacturers in this incomplete list.

Graphics chip makers

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Many of the companies listed below also design(ed) graphics cards.

Name Year of market entry Year of market exit Fate and/or notes
3dfx 1994 2002 Assets were acquired by Nvidia during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy
3Dlabs 1994 2009 Merged with Creative Labs' personal entertainment division to form ZiiLABS
ALi 1987 2006 Acquried by Nvidia; formerly a division of Acer, full name Acer Laboratories Incorporated
Alphamosaic 2000 2004 Acquired by Broadcom; original developers of the VideoCore series of discrete mobile GPUs[1]
AMD 2006 Active Current developers of the Radeon series; entered graphics chip industry after acquiring ATI Technologies in 2006
Ark Logic [de] 1993 1999 Bankruptcy
Arm Holdings 2005 Active Developers of the Mail and GPU lines of mobile GPUs
ArtX 1997 2000 Acquired by ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies 1985 2006 Pioneering company, developers of the Wonder, the Mach, the Rage, the All-in-Wonder, and finally the Radeon series of graphics cards; acquired by AMD and merged into the AMD Graphics Product Group
Avance Logic 1991 2002 Acquired by Realtek in 1995; dissolved in 2002
BitBoys 1991 2009 Acquired by ATI Technologies
Broadcom 2004 Active Current developers of the VideoCore series; entered graphics chip industry after acquiring Alphamosaic in 2004
Chips and Technologies 1984 1997 Acquired by Intel
Chromatic Research 1993 1998 Acquired by ATI Technologies
Cirrus Logic 1984 2005 Spun off graphics chip division to create Magnum Semiconductor, which was acquired by IDT in 2017; Cirrus Logic still in business
Evans & Sutherland 1968 2001 Sold its graphics chip assets to Real Vision[2]
Gemini Technology 1984 1990 Bankruptcy; acquired by Seiko Epson to form the Vancouver Design Center
Genoa Systems 1984 2002 Bankruptcy
GigaPixel 1997 2000 Acquired by 3dfx
Headland Technology 1989 1993 Assets sold to Spea Software AG; formerly a division of LSI Logic's Standard Products Group
Imagination Technologies 1985 Active Founded as VideoLogic; developers of the PowerVR series
Integrated Information Technology 1987 Un­known Exited the graphics chip industry to become 8x8, a provider of videoconferencing and VoIP products
Intel 1982 Active Entered the graphics chip industry after becoming second source for the NEC μPD7220 in 1982; entered the discrete GPU market with the Arc series in 2022
iXMicro 1994 2000 Bankruptcy; produced video cards for Macintosh and Macintosh clones
Jingjia Micro 2006 Active China's largest producer of GPUs
Matrox 1976 Un­known Once a mass manufacturer of graphics chips; now targets niche markets; currently selling graphics cards based on Intel's Arc discrete desktop GPUs
Moore Threads 2020 Active Developers of the MTT series, China's first domestically produced GPU[3]
MOS Technology 1979 2000 Dissolution; produced the VIC and TED line of graphics chips; owned by Commodore International
Number Nine Visual Technology 1982 1999 Acquired by S3; pioneer in the graphics industry, developing the first 128-bit graphics processor
Nvidia 1993 Active Developers of the GeForce series; largest producer of discrete desktop graphics chips as of 2023[4]
Oak Technology 1987 2003 Acquired by Zoran
OPTi 1993 2001 Dissolution; entered graphics chip industry after acquiring MediaChips in 1993
Paradise Systems 1982 1996 Dissolution; acquired by Western Digital in 1986, then sold to Philips in 1995
Primus Technology 1992 1993 Disappeared from the marketplace; produced a Windows accelerator by the name P2000[5]
Qualcomm 2008 Active Developers of the Adreno series
Radius 1986 2002 Acquried by Media 100; produced graphics solutions primairly for Apple Computer
Raycer 1996 1999 Acquired by Apple Computer
Real3D 1995 1999 Acquired by Intel
Realtek 1995 Un­known Exited the graphics chip industry; still in operation
Rendition 1993 1998 Acquired by Micron Technology
S3 Graphics 1989 2000 Merged with Diamond Multimedia, then sold off its core graphics division to VIA Technologies; later sold off to HTC
Samsung Electronics 2022 Active Began employing AMD's RDNA GPU microarchitecture into their Exynos SoCs in 2022
Silicon Graphics 1981 2006 Stopped developing 3D graphics in-house in 2006 and started buying GPUs from other companies; later went completely defunct in 2009; its assets were bought in the resulting Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Rackable Systems, which changed its name to Silicon Graphics International
Silicon Image 1995 2015 Acquired by Lattice Semiconductor
Silicon Integrated Systems 1997 2003 Spun off graphics chip division to form XGI
Tamarack Microelectronics 1987 2002 Merged with IC Plus in 2002
Texas Instruments 1979 Un­known Exited the graphics chip industry; still in business
Trident Microsystems 1987 2003 Sold its graphics chip assets to XGI in 2003; entered bankruptcy in 2012
Tseng Labs 1983 1998 Sold its graphics chip assets to ATI Technologies in 1997
United Microelectronics Corporation 1980 Un­known Exited the graphics chip industry after becoming a chip foundry in the late 1990s
VIA Technologies 1999 2011 Exited the graphics chip industry; still in operation[6][7]
Video Seven 1984 1989 Merged with G-2 Inc., a subsidiary of LSI Logic, to form Headland Technology
Vivante Corporation 2004 2015 Acquired by VeriSilicon
Weitek 1991 1996 Bankruptcy; producer of Power9000 brand of GPUs from circa 1991 to 1994
Western Digital Imaging 1986 1995 Dissolution; result of merger between Paradise Systems and Verticom Inc.
ZiiLABS 2009 2012 Assets split between Creative Technology and Intel

Graphics card makers

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Name Year of market entry Year of market exit Chips used Fate and/or notes
Acer 1987 Active Arc, Radeon, ALi (formerly)
Actix Systems 1990 1998 S3 Dissolution
Appian Graphics 1994 2001 Acquired by ATI Technologies
Artist Graphics 1979 1995 Bankruptcy
ASRock 2002 Active Arc, Radeon
Asus 1996 Active GeForce, Radeon, ViRGE (formerly) [8]
BFG Technologies 2002 2010 Bankruptcy
Biostar 2004 Active Radeon, GeForce
Boca Research 1989 2002 Acquired by Ener1
Cardinal Technologies 1991 1997 Bankruptcy
Chaintech Un­known Un­known GeForce
Cromemco 1975 1987 Sold to Dynatech Corporation; introduced the first color graphics card for microcomputers, the Dazzler, in 1976
Diamond Multimedia 1989 Active Various
Elitegroup Computer Systems 1992 Active [9]
ELSA Technology 1989 Active GeForce, S3 (formerly) [10]
EVGA Corporation 1999 2022 GeForce Exited the graphics card industry; still in business
Foxconn 2004 Un­known GeForce [11]
Gainward 1995 Active GeForce, Trio (formerly), ViRGE (formerly) [12]
GALAX 1994 Active GeForce
Gigabyte Technology Un­known Active GeForce, Radeon
Hercules Computer Technology 1982 1998 Acquired by Guillemot Corporation
Hightech Information System 2002 Active Radeon [13]
Colorful Co., Ltd. [zh] 1995 Active GeForce
Innovation Computer 1983 Un­known Dissolution
Leadtek 1995 Active GeForce, Tseng Labs (formerly) [14]
Maxsun [zh] 2002 Active GeForce
Media Vision 1990 1996 Bankruptcy
Micro-Star International 1986 Active Radeon, GeForce
Nth Graphics 1986 Un­known Bankruptcy[15]: 39 
Orchid Technology 1982 1994 Acquired by Micronics Computers, then by Diamond Multimedia
Palit Microsystems 1988 Active GeForce, Trident (formerly), S3 (formerly)
PNY Technologies 2001 Active GeForce [16]
Point of View 2000 Active
PowerColor 1997 Active Radeon
Sapphire Technology 2001 Active Radeon
Sparkle Computer 2000 Active Arc, GeForce (formerly) [17]
Spea Software 1985 1995 Acquired by Diamond Multimedia in 1995, then by ATI Technologies in 2001; a German vendor active in the 1990s
STB Systems 1981 1999 Acquired by 3dfx
Vectrix Corporation 1980 1993 Bankruptcy
Vermont Microsystems 1982 Un­known Bankruptcy
XFX 2002 Active Radeon, GeForce
Zotac 2006 Active GeForce

References

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  1. ^ "Broadcom Agrees to Buy Alphamosaic". Los Angeles Times. September 21, 2004. Archived from the original on February 3, 2024. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  2. ^ Donelan, Jenny (October 2001). "Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp". Computer Graphics World. 24 (10). PennWell: 10 – via Gale. Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. (Salt Lake City, UT) has announced that it will sell its REALimage business unit, which makes semiconductor chips for advanced graphics and video applications, to the Japanese firm of Real Vision. The sale has a maximum value of $12 million.
  3. ^ Tyson, Mark (March 30, 2022). "China's First Domestic GPU Announced with 1080p League of Legends Demo". Tom's Hardware. Future Publishing.
  4. ^ Shilov, Anton (September 6, 2023). "GPU Market 'Healthy and vibrant' in Q2 2023: Report". Tom's Hardware. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2024.
  5. ^ O'Brien, Bill (December 1992). "Celerite Galaxy 2000". Computer Shopper. 12 (12). SX2 Media Labs: 178 – via Gale.
  6. ^ Ristelhueber, Robert (April 12, 1999). "S3-Via Deal to Integrate Graphics, Logic". Electronic News. 45 (15). Sage Publications: 2 – via Gale.
  7. ^ Brown, Richard (July 6, 2011). "VIA Technologies Announces Sale of Stake in S3 Graphics". Business Wire.
  8. ^ "ASUS Graphics Card 20th Anniversary". Asus.com. ASUSTeK Computer. 2016.
  9. ^ Staff writer (September 21, 1992). "Elitegroup graphics card supports 16.7M colors". PC Week. 9 (38). Ziff-Davis: 34 – via Gale.
  10. ^ Haefeker, Walter; Donna Fritz (December 4, 1989). "ELSA GmbH announces its new U.S. operation, ELSA America, to provide higher performance graphics capability". PR Newswire – via Gale.
  11. ^ Staff writer (July 1, 2004). "Nvidia Debuts MXM Graphics Interface for Notebooks". Computer Workstations. 17 (7). Worldwide Videotex – via Gale.
  12. ^ Brown, Bruce (July 1996). "Go much faster for a lot less". Computer Shopper. 16 (7). SX2 Media Labs: 367 et seq. – via Gale.
  13. ^ "ATI Technologies Inc. Expands Add-In-Board Business with Two New Strategic Relationships". Market News Publishing. COMTEX News Network. March 12, 2002 – via Gale.
  14. ^ Staff writer (September 1995). "WinFast T230 Pro with LeadPhone". PC World. 13 (9). IDG Communications: 90 – via Gale.
  15. ^ Estill, Lyle (January 1990). "Unfree Enterprise". Journal of Business Ethics. 9 (1). Springer Nature: 39–43 – via JSTOR.
  16. ^ Staff writer (October 1, 2001). "NVIDIA GeForce Titanium Series of GPUs Selected by Top PC and Add-In-Card OEMS". PR Newswire – via Gale.
  17. ^ Jenkins, Jason (May 2001). "Party like it's 999£". PC Direct. ZDNet: 154 et seq. – via Gale.
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