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 manufacturers in this incomplete list.
Graphics chip makers Many of the companies listed below also design(ed) graphics cards.
Name Country of origin Year of market entry Year of market exit Fate Notes 3dfx United States Bankruptcy; acquired by Nvidia in 2002 3Dlabs United States Merged with Creative Labs' personal entertainment division to form ZiiLABS ALi Taiwan Acquired by Nvidia Formerly a division of Acer, full name Acer Laboratories Incorporated Alphamosaic United Kingdom Acquired by Broadcom Original developers of the VideoCore series of discrete mobile GPUs AMD United States Current developers of the Radeon series; entered graphics chip industry after acquiring ATI Technologies in 2006 Apple United States Entered the graphics card market in 1981; began developing GPUs with the A10 SoC in 2016 (based on Imagination's PowerVR) and introduced their first entirely in-house GPU with the A11 SoC in 2017 ARK Logic United States Bankruptcy Arm Holdings United Kingdom Developers of the Mali and Immortalis lines of mobile GPUs ArtX United States Acquired by ATI Technologies ATI Technologies Canada Acquired by AMD Pioneering company, developers of the Wonder, the Mach, the Rage, the All-in-Wonder, and finally the Radeon series of graphics cards Avance Logic United States Acquired by Realtek in 1995; dissolved in 2002 BitBoys Finland Acquired by ATI Technologies Broadcom United States Current developers of the VideoCore series; entered graphics chip industry after acquiring Alphamosaic in 2004 Chips and Technologies United States Acquired by Intel Chromatic Research United States Acquired by ATI Technologies Cirrus Logic United States Spun off graphics chip division to create Magnum Semiconductor, which was acquired by IDT in 2017 Evans & Sutherland United States Sold its graphics chip assets to Real Vision Still active in the computer simulation business Gemini Technology Canada Bankruptcy; acquired by Seiko Epson to form the Vancouver Design Center Genoa Systems United States Bankruptcy GigaPixel United States Acquired by 3dfx Headland Technology United States Sold its graphics chip assets to Spea Software Formerly a division of LSI Logic's Standard Products Group Imagination Technologies United Kingdom Founded as VideoLogic; developers of the PowerVR series Integrated Information Technology United States Exited the graphics chip industry Following exit became 8x8, a provider of videoconferencing and VoIP products Intel United States Entered the graphics chip industry after becoming the second source for NEC's μPD7220 in 1982; entered the discrete GPU market with the Arc series in 2022 iXMicro United States Bankruptcy Produced graphics cards for Macintosh and Macintosh clones Jingjia Micro China China's largest producer of GPUs Matrox Canada Exited the graphics chip industry Once a mass manufacturer of graphics chips, now targets niche markets; still produces graphics cards based on Intel's Arc GPUs Metheus United States Acquired by Barco Display Systems Moore Threads China Developers of the MTT series, China's first domestically produced graphics card MOS Technology United States Dissolution Produced the VIC and TED lines of graphics chips; owned by Commodore International NEC Japan Exited the graphics chip industry Produced the influential μPD7220, widely used in 1980s microcomputers NeoMagic United States Supplier of mobile SoCs with integrated GPUs Number Nine Visual Technology United States Acquired by S3 Developed the first 128-bit graphics processor Nvidia United States Developers of the GeForce series; largest producer of discrete desktop graphics chips Oak Technology United States Acquired by Zoran OPTi United States Dissolution Paradise Systems United States Dissolution Acquired by Western Digital in 1986, then sold to Philips in 1995 Primus Technology United States Disappeared from the marketplace Produced a Windows accelerator by the name P2000 Qualcomm United States Developers of the Adreno series Radius United States Acquired by Media 100 Produced graphics solutions primarily for Apple Computer Raycer United States Acquired by Apple Computer Real3D United States Acquired by Intel Realtek Taiwan Exited the graphics chip industry Rendition United States Acquired by Micron Technology S3 Graphics United States Merged with Diamond Multimedia, then sold off its core graphics division to VIA Technologies; later sold off to HTC Samsung Electronics South Korea Began employing AMD's RDNA GPU microarchitecture into their Exynos SoCs in 2022 Silicon Graphics United States Stopped developing graphics chips 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 United States Acquired by Lattice Semiconductor Silicon Integrated Systems Taiwan Spun off graphics chip division to form XGI Tamarack Microelectronics Taiwan Merged with IC Plus in 2002 Texas Instruments United States Exited the graphics chip industry Trident Microsystems United States Sold its graphics chip assets to XGI in 2003 Following exit entered bankruptcy in 2012 Tseng Labs United States Sold its graphics chip assets to ATI Technologies in 1997 United Microelectronics Corporation Taiwan Exited the graphics chip industry Following exit in the late 1990s became a chip foundry VIA Technologies Taiwan Exited the graphics chip industry Entered the graphics chip industry after forming a joint venture with S3 Video Seven United States Merged with G-2 Inc., a subsidiary of LSI Logic, to form Headland Technology Vivante Corporation United States Acquired by VeriSilicon Weitek United States Bankruptcy Producer of the Power9000 series of GPUs from circa 1991 to 1994 Western Digital Imaging United States Dissolution Formed as the result of merger between Paradise Systems and Verticom Inc. ZiiLABS United States Assets split between Creative Technology and Intel
Graphics card makers
Name Country of origin Year of market entry Year of market exit Chips used Fate Notes Acer Taiwan Arc, Radeon, ALi (formerly) Actix Systems United States S3 Dissolution Appian Graphics United States Acquired by ATI Technologies Artist Graphics United States Bankruptcy ASRock Taiwan Arc, Radeon Asus Taiwan GeForce, Radeon, ViRGE (formerly) BFG Technologies United States Bankruptcy Biostar Taiwan Radeon, GeForce Boca Research United States Acquired by Ener1 Cardinal Technologies United States Bankruptcy Chaintech Taiwan GeForce Creative Technology Singapore Various Cromemco United States Sold to Dynatech Corporation Introduced the first color graphics card for microcomputers, the Dazzler, in 1976 Diamond Multimedia United States Various Elitegroup Computer Systems Taiwan ELSA Technology Germany GeForce, S3 (formerly) EVGA United States GeForce Exited the graphics card industry; still in business Foxconn Taiwan GeForce Gainward Taiwan GeForce, Trio (formerly), ViRGE (formerly) GALAX Hong Kong GeForce Gigabyte Technology Taiwan GeForce, Radeon GUNNIR China Arc Hercules Computer Technology United States Acquired by Guillemot Corporation Hightech Information System Hong Kong Radeon China GeForce Innovation Computer United States Dissolution Leadtek Taiwan GeForce, Tseng Labs (formerly) Hong Kong GeForce Taiwan Arc, Radeon, GeForce Media Vision United States Bankruptcy Micro-Star International Taiwan Radeon, GeForce Nth Graphics United States Bankruptcy Orchid Technology United States Acquired by Micronics Computers, then by Diamond Multimedia Palit Microsystems Taiwan GeForce, Trident (formerly), S3 (formerly) PNY Technologies United States GeForce Point of View Netherlands GeForce PowerColor Taiwan Radeon Quantum3D United States Sapphire Technology Hong Kong Radeon Sparkle Computer Taiwan Arc, GeForce (formerly) Spea Software Germany Acquired by Diamond Multimedia in 1995, then by ATI Technologies in 2001 STB Systems United States Acquired by 3dfx Vectrix United States Bankruptcy Vermont Microsystems United States Bankruptcy XFX United States Radeon, GeForce (formerly) Zotac Hong Kong GeForce
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