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. Intel and VIA Technologies remain as producers of primarily integrated solutions, while Matrox targets niche markets. Amongst the notable discrete graphics card vendors, ATI Technologies - acquired by AMD in 2006 - and NVIDIA are the only ones that have lasted.

[edit] Defunct graphic chip makers

Number Nine Imagine-128 Series II

These companies designed graphics chips.

• 3Dfx - Assets were acquired by NVIDIA during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy
• 3Dlabs - Merged with Creative Labs' personal entertainment division to form ZiiLABS
• Ark Logic
• ArtX - acquired by ATI Technologies
• Avance Logic - acquired by Realtek
• BitBoys - acquired by ATI Technologies
• Chips and Technologies - acquired by Intel
• Chromatic Research - acquired by ATI Technologies
• GigaPixel - acquired by 3Dfx
• Gemini Technology - went bankrupt, acquired by Seiko-Epson to form the Vancouver Design Center
• Headland Technologies - division of LSI Logic's Standard Products Group in late 1990s, assets sold to SPEA
• IXMICRO - produced video cards for Macintosh and Macintosh clones
• Oak Technology - acquired by Zoran Corporation
• OPTi Inc. - no longer makes graphics chips
• Paradise Systems - acquired by Western Digital
• MOS Technology - produced the VIC and TED line of graphics chips, owned by Commodore International.
• Number Nine Visual Technology - pioneer in the graphics industry, developed 1st 128-bit graphics processor (Imagine-128).
• Radius - Made graphics solutions for Apple, out of business mid 1990s
• Raycer - acquired by Apple Computer
• Real3D - acquired by Intel
• Rendition - acquired by Micron Technology
• Silicon Graphics Incorporated (SGI) - Quit developing 3D graphics in-house in the early 2000s and bought GPUs from other companies. Later went completely out of business in 2009. Its assets were bought in the resulting Chapter 11 bankruptcy by Rackable Systems, which changed its name to Silicon Graphics International.
• Tseng Labs - sold their video chip assets to ATI Technologies in 1997
• Video 7 - merged with G2 to form Headland Technologies
• Western Digital Imaging - combined efforts of Paradise Systems and Faraday Computing, bought by Western Digital and allowed to go out of business
• Weitek Corporation - maker of Power9000 brand of GPUs circa 1991-1994, bankrupt 1995

[edit] Defunct graphic card makers

• Appian Graphics - acquired by ATI Technologies
• Artist Grapics - acquired by ATI Technologies
• Boca Research - acquired by Zoom Telephonics
• Cardinal Technologies - bankrupt
• Genoa Systems - bankrupt
• Hercules Computer Technology, Inc. - acquired by ELSA Technology, Inc., then by Guillemot
• Media Vision - bankrupt
• Nth Graphics - bankrupt
• Paradise Systems - acquired by Western Digital, then by Philips, then de-emphasized
• Orchid Technology - acquired by Micronics Computers, then by Diamond Multimedia
• SPEA AG - German vendor in late 1990s, no longer in business
• STB Systems - acquired by 3Dfx in 1999

[edit] Other

The following companies are still in operation, but no longer design PC graphics chips:

• Acer Laboratories Incorporated - focusing on design and manufacturing of integrated circuits for the personal computer and embedded systems
• Cirrus Logic - sold their video chip assets
• IIT Corp - reverted back to a video-conferencing solutions company, and then later a VOIP service provider
• PowerVR - focusing on mobile graphic technologies
• Realtek - no longer makes graphics chips
• Silicon Integrated Systems (SIS) - sold their video chip assets to XGI
• Trident Microsystems - sold their video chip assets to XGI
• UMC - became a custom-only fab and discontinued all of their standard products in the late 1990s
• Texas Instruments - withdrew from the computer market
• XGI - focusing on embedded and mobile applications