NVIDIA CORP/CA
S-1/A, 1998-06-08
SEMICONDUCTORS & RELATED DEVICES
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<PAGE>
 
      
   AS FILED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION ON JUNE 8, 1998     
                                                     REGISTRATION NO. 333-47495
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                            WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
                                ---------------
                                
                             AMENDMENT NO. 2     
                                      TO
                                   FORM S-1
                            REGISTRATION STATEMENT
                                     UNDER
                          THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
 
                                ---------------
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
            (EXACT NAME OF REGISTRANT AS SPECIFIED IN ITS CHARTER)
 
                                ---------------
 
         DELAWARE                    3674                    94-3177549
     (STATE OR OTHER          (PRIMARY STANDARD           (I.R.S. EMPLOYER
     JURISDICTION OF      INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION    IDENTIFICATION NUMBER)
     INCORPORATION OR            CODE NUMBER)
      ORGANIZATION)
 
                                1226 TIROS WAY
                              SUNNYVALE, CA 94086
                                (408) 617-4000
  (ADDRESS, INCLUDING ZIP CODE, AND TELEPHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING AREA CODE, OF
                   REGISTRANT'S PRINCIPAL EXECUTIVE OFFICES)
 
                                ---------------
                                JEN-HSUN HUANG
                            CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
                                1226 TIROS WAY
                              SUNNYVALE, CA 94086
                                (408) 617-4000
(NAME, ADDRESS, INCLUDING ZIP CODE, AND TELEPHONE NUMBER, INCLUDING AREA CODE,
                             OF AGENT FOR SERVICE)
                                  COPIES TO:
           JAMES C. GAITHER                       LARRY W. SONSINI
            ERIC C. JENSEN                      JAMES N. STRAWBRIDGE
            KARYN R. SMITH                         JON C. GONZALES
          COOLEY GODWARD LLP              WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
    ONE MARITIME PLAZA, 20TH FLOOR            PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION
        SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111                  650 PAGE MILL ROAD
            (415) 693-2000                       PALO ALTO, CA 94304
                                                   (650) 493-9300
 
                                ---------------
  APPROXIMATE DATE OF COMMENCEMENT OF PROPOSED SALE TO THE PUBLIC: As soon as
practicable after the Registration Statement becomes effective.
  If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on
a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act,
check the following box. [_]
  If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering
pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and
list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective
registration statement for the same offering. [_]
  If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c)
under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act
registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement
number for the same offering. [_]
  If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d)
under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act
registration number of the earlier effective registration statement for the
same offering. [_]
  If delivery of the prospectus is expected to be made pursuant to Rule 434,
check the following box. [_]
 
                                ---------------
  THE REGISTRANT HEREBY AMENDS THIS REGISTRATION STATEMENT ON SUCH DATE OR
DATES AS MAY BE NECESSARY TO DELAY ITS EFFECTIVE DATE UNTIL THE REGISTRANT
SHALL FILE A FURTHER AMENDMENT THAT SPECIFICALLY STATES THAT THIS REGISTRATION
STATEMENT SHALL THEREAFTER BECOME EFFECTIVE IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION 8(A) OF
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR UNTIL THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT
SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE ON SUCH DATE AS THE COMMISSION, ACTING PURSUANT TO SAID
SECTION 8(A), MAY DETERMINE.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<PAGE>
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS SUBJECT TO COMPLETION OR AMENDMENT. A         +
+REGISTRATION STATEMENT RELATING TO THESE SECURITIES HAS BEEN FILED WITH THE   +
+SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. THESE SECURITIES MAY NOT BE SOLD NOR MAY  +
+OFFERS TO BUY BE ACCEPTED PRIOR TO THE TIME THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT        +
+BECOMES EFFECTIVE. THIS PROSPECTUS SHALL NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR   +
+THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF THESE      +
+SECURITIES IN ANY STATE IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE    +
+UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF  +
+ANY SUCH STATE.                                                               +
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
PROSPECTUS (Subject to Completion)
   
Issued June 8, 1998     
 
 
                                        Shares
 
                                [LOGO OF NVIDIA]
 
                                  COMMON STOCK
 
                                  -----------
 
ALL  OF THE  SHARES  OF COMMON  STOCK  OFFERED  HEREBY ARE  BEING  SOLD BY  THE
 COMPANY. PRIOR  TO THIS  OFFERING, THERE  HAS BEEN NO  PUBLIC MARKET  FOR THE
 COMMON  STOCK OF  THE COMPANY.  IT IS  CURRENTLY ESTIMATED  THAT THE  INITIAL
  PUBLIC  OFFERING  PRICE WILL  BE  BETWEEN  $     AND  $     PER SHARE.  SEE
  "UNDERWRITERS"  FOR  A  DISCUSSION  OF  THE FACTORS  TO  BE  CONSIDERED  IN
   DETERMINING THE INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING PRICE. THE SHARES OF COMMON STOCK
    OFFERED HEREBY HAVE BEEN APPROVED  FOR QUOTATION ON THE NASDAQ  NATIONAL
     MARKET UNDER THE SYMBOL "NVDA" SUBJECT TO OFFICIAL NOTICE OF ISSUANCE.
 
                                  -----------
 
 THIS OFFERING INVOLVES A HIGH DEGREE OF RISK. SEE "RISK FACTORS" COMMENCING ON
                                 PAGE 6 HEREOF.
 
                                  -----------
 
THESE  SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED  OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SECURITIES  AND
 EXCHANGE  COMMISSION   OR  ANY  STATE  SECURITIES  COMMISSION  NOR   HAS  THE
  SECURITIES  AND  EXCHANGE COMMISSION  OR  ANY  STATE SECURITIES  COMMISSION
   PASSED  UPON   THE  ACCURACY   OR  ADEQUACY   OF  THIS   PROSPECTUS.  ANY
            REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
 
                                  -----------
 
                               PRICE $    A SHARE
 
                                  -----------
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                      UNDERWRITING
                                            PRICE TO  DISCOUNTS AND  PROCEEDS TO
                                             PUBLIC  COMMISSIONS (1) COMPANY (2)
                                            -------- --------------- -----------
<S>                                         <C>      <C>             <C>
Per Share..................................  $        $               $
Total(3)................................... $        $               $
</TABLE>
- -----
  (1) The Company has agreed to indemnify the Underwriters against certain
      liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as
      amended. See "Underwriters."
  (2) Before deducting expenses payable by the Company estimated at
      $1,150,000.
  (3) The Company has granted the Underwriters an option, exercisable within
      30 days of the date hereof, to purchase up to an aggregate of
      additional Shares at the price to public less underwriting discounts and
      commissions for the purpose of covering over-allotments, if any. If the
      Underwriters exercise such option in full, the total price to public,
      underwriting discounts and commissions and proceeds to Company will be
      $        , $         and $       , respectively. See "Underwriters."
 
                                  -----------
 
  The Shares are offered, subject to prior sale, when, as and if accepted by
the Underwriters named herein and subject to approval of certain legal matters
by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation, counsel for the
Underwriters. It is expected that delivery of the Shares will be made on or
about              , 1998 at the office of Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated,
New York, N.Y., against payment therefor in immediately available funds.
 
                                  -----------
 
MORGAN STANLEY DEAN WITTER
                                HAMBRECHT & QUIST
                                                                CIBC OPPENHEIMER
      , 1998
<PAGE>
 
 
 
[Description of illustration: four computer monitors depicting 3D rendering of
a building exterior, a game image, an anatomy illustration and the eye of a
frog. The caption is "Awesome 3D graphics-mainstream". The NVIDIA name and
logo also are depicted.]
 
Text to accompany artwork:
 
NVIDIA designs, develops and markets 3D graphics processors and related
software that provide high performance interactive 3D graphics to the
mainstream PC market.
 
  CERTAIN PERSONS PARTICIPATING IN THIS OFFERING MAY ENGAGE IN TRANSACTIONS
THAT STABILIZE, MAINTAIN OR OTHERWISE AFFECT THE PRICE OF THE COMMON STOCK,
SPECIFICALLY, THE UNDERWRITERS MAY OVERALLOT IN CONNECTION WITH THE OFFERING,
AND MAY BID FOR, AND PURCHASE, SHARES OF COMMON STOCK IN THE OPEN MARKET. FOR
A DESCRIPTION OF THESE ACTIVITIES, SEE "UNDERWRITERS."
<PAGE>
 
 
 
 
 [Description of illustration: Two-page computer display 3D rendering of a frog
                                 on a lilypad]
 
 
 
 
<PAGE>
 
                 MAKING FANTASY REALITY AND REALITY FANTASTIC.
 
ARTWORK TEXT:
 
FOCUS ON MAINSTREAM
 
PC users today can easily differentiate the quality of graphics and prefer PCs
that provide a superior visual experience. NVIDIA's strategy is to achieve
market leadership in the high volume mainstream PC market by providing
compelling 3D graphics performance at competitive prices.
 
AWARD-WINNING TECHNOLOGY
 
NVIDIA's RIVA128 graphics processor is a highly integrated single-chip
solution that supports high performance interactive 3D graphics applications
while simultaneously optimizing 2D graphics and providing VGA compatibility
and DVD playback. The benefits and performance of the RIVA128 graphics
processor have received significant industry validation and have enabled the
Company's customers to win over 40 industry awards.
 
LEADING OEMS
 
NVIDIA's strategy is to enable leading OEM customers to differentiate their
products in a highly competitive marketplace by using NVIDIA's high
performance 3D graphics processors. The Company's products are used by five of
the top ten PC OEMs in the United States--Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron
and Packard Bell NEC--and by leading add-in board manufacturers such as
Diamond and STB.
 
[OEM LOGOs]
<PAGE>
 
                               PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
 
  The following summary is qualified in its entirety by the more detailed
information and the financial statements and notes thereto appearing elsewhere
in this Prospectus. This Prospectus contains forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a
result of certain factors, including those set forth under "Risk Factors" and
elsewhere in this Prospectus.
 
                                  THE COMPANY
 
  NVIDIA designs, develops and markets 3D graphics processors and related
software that provide high performance interactive 3D graphics to the
mainstream PC market. The Company's graphics processors are designed to deliver
a highly immersive, interactive 3D experience with realistic imagery and
stunning effects. The RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors provide
superior processing power at competitive prices and are architected to take
advantage of mainstream industry standards such as Microsoft's Direct3D API.
The highly integrated design of the Company's graphics processors combines high
performance 3D and 2D graphics on a single chip and provides a simpler and
lower cost graphics solution relative to competing solutions, including multi-
chip or multi-board 2D/3D graphics subsystems.
 
  NVIDIA designed the RIVA128 graphics processor to enable PC OEMs and add-in
board manufacturers to build award-winning products by delivering state-of-the-
art interactive 3D graphics capability to end users while maintaining
affordable prices. The Company believes that by developing 3D graphics
solutions that provide superior performance and address the key requirements of
the mainstream PC market, it will accelerate the adoption of 3D graphics
throughout this market. The benefits and performance of the RIVA128 graphics
processor have received significant industry validation and have enabled the
Company's customers to win over 80 industry awards. NVIDIA's graphics
processors currently are designed into products offered by five of the top ten
PC OEMs in the United States--Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and Packard
Bell NEC--and by leading add-in board manufacturers such as Diamond and STB.
 
                                  THE OFFERING
 
<TABLE>
<S>                                   <C>
Common Stock offered.................       shares
Common Stock to be outstanding after
 the offering........................       shares(1)
Use of proceeds...................... For general corporate purposes, including
                                      capital expenditures and working capital.
                                      See "Use of Proceeds."
Nasdaq National Market symbol........ NVDA
</TABLE>
 
                             SUMMARY FINANCIAL DATA
                     (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                    YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,            QUARTER ENDED
                          PERIOD FROM INCEPTION ----------------------------------  -------------------
                           (APRIL 5, 1993) TO                                       MARCH 30, MARCH 29,
                            DECEMBER 31, 1993    1994     1995     1996     1997      1997      1998
                          --------------------- -------  -------  -------  -------  --------- ---------
<S>                       <C>                   <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>       <C>
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS
 DATA:
Total revenue...........         $  --          $   --   $ 1,182  $ 3,912  $29,071   $    65   $37,662
Gross profit (loss).....            --              --      (367)     874    7,845      (143)   10,103
Operating income (loss).           (506)         (1,351)  (6,470)  (2,993)  (2,560)   (1,144)    2,947
Net income (loss).......           (484)         (1,361)  (6,377)  (3,077)  (2,691)   (1,176)    2,180
Basic net income (loss)
 per share(2)...........         $ (.07)        $  (.19) $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)  $  (.10)  $   .15
Diluted net income
 (loss) per share(2)....         $ (.07)        $  (.19) $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)  $  (.10)  $   .08
Shares used in basic per
 share computation(2)...          6,784           7,048   11,365   11,383   12,677    11,578    14,142
Shares used in diluted
 per share
 computation(2).........          6,784           7,048   11,365   11,383   12,677    11,578    25,729
</TABLE>
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                              MARCH 29, 1998
                                                          ----------------------
                                                          ACTUAL  AS ADJUSTED(3)
                                                          ------- --------------
<S>                                                       <C>     <C>
BALANCE SHEET DATA:
Cash and cash equivalents................................ $ 8,640      $
Total assets.............................................  36,738
Capital lease obligations, less current portion..........   2,143
Total stockholders' equity...............................   9,257
</TABLE>
- -------
(1) Based on the number of shares outstanding as of March 29, 1998. Excludes
    (i) 6,066,833 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of options
    outstanding at a weighted average exercise price of $3.91 per share, (ii)
    158,806 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants
    outstanding at a weighted average exercise price of $2.10 per share, (iii)
    3,911,457 shares of Common Stock reserved for future grants under the
    Company's 1998 Equity Incentive Plan, (iv) 300,000 shares reserved for
    future grants under the Company's 1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option
    Plan, (v) 500,000 shares of Common Stock reserved for issuance under the
    Company's 1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and (vi) 131,750 shares of
    Common Stock issuable upon exercise of options granted after March 29,
    1998. See "Management--Employee Benefit Plans" and Notes 3 and 8 of Notes
    to Financial Statements.
(2) See Note 1 of Notes to Financial Statements for an explanation of the
    determination of the number of shares used in per share computations.
(3) Adjusted to reflect the sale of the      shares of Common Stock offered
    hereby at an assumed initial public offering price of $      per share and
    after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and
    estimated offering expenses payable by the Company. See "Use of Proceeds"
    and "Capitalization."
 
                                       3
<PAGE>
 
  NO PERSON IS AUTHORIZED IN CONNECTION WITH ANY OFFERING MADE HEREBY TO GIVE
ANY INFORMATION OR TO MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS OTHER THAN AS CONTAINED IN THIS
PROSPECTUS, AND, IF GIVEN OR MADE, SUCH INFORMATION OR REPRESENTATIONS MUST
NOT BE RELIED UPON AS HAVING BEEN AUTHORIZED BY THE COMPANY OR ANY
UNDERWRITER. THIS PROSPECTUS DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR A
SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, ANY SECURITIES OTHER THAN THE REGISTERED
SECURITIES TO WHICH IT RELATES OR AN OFFER TO, OR A SOLICITATION OF, ANY
PERSON IN ANY JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH AN OFFER OR SOLICITATION WOULD BE
UNLAWFUL. NEITHER THE DELIVERY OF THIS PROSPECTUS NOR ANY SALE MADE HEREUNDER
SHALL, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, CREATE ANY IMPLICATION THAT THERE HAS BEEN NO
CHANGE IN THE AFFAIRS OF THE COMPANY SINCE THE DATE HEREOF OR THAT THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS CORRECT AS OF ANY TIME SUBSEQUENT TO THE DATE
HEREOF.
 
                               ----------------
 
  UNTIL               , 1998 (25 DAYS AFTER THE DATE OF THIS PROSPECTUS), ALL
DEALERS EFFECTING TRANSACTIONS IN THE REGISTERED SECURITIES, WHETHER OR NOT
PARTICIPATING IN THIS DISTRIBUTION, MAY BE REQUIRED TO DELIVER A PROSPECTUS.
THIS DELIVERY REQUIREMENT IS IN ADDITION TO THE OBLIGATIONS OF DEALERS TO
DELIVER A PROSPECTUS WHEN ACTING AS UNDERWRITERS AND WITH RESPECT TO THEIR
UNSOLD ALLOTMENTS OR SUBSCRIPTIONS.
 
                               ----------------
 
                               TABLE OF CONTENTS
 
<TABLE>   
<CAPTION>
                                                                            PAGE
                                                                            ----
<S>                                                                         <C>
Prospectus Summary........................................................    3
The Company...............................................................    5
Risk Factors..............................................................    6
Use of Proceeds...........................................................   21
Dividend Policy...........................................................   21
Capitalization............................................................   22
Dilution..................................................................   23
Selected Financial Data...................................................   24
Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
 Operations...............................................................   25
Business..................................................................   34
Management................................................................   47
Certain Transactions......................................................   56
Principal Stockholders....................................................   57
Description of Capital Stock..............................................   59
Shares Eligible for Future Sale...........................................   61
Underwriters..............................................................   63
Legal Matters.............................................................   64
Experts...................................................................   64
Additional Information....................................................   65
Index to Financial Statements.............................................  F-1
</TABLE>    
 
                               ----------------
 
  The Company intends to furnish to its stockholders annual reports containing
financial statements audited by an independent public accounting firm and
quarterly reports for the first three quarters of each year containing
unaudited interim financial information.
 
                               ----------------
 
  NVIDIA is a registered trademark of the Company and the Company has filed
for trademark protection for the NVIDIA logo. The Company and ST
Microelectronics, Inc. have filed jointly for trademark protection for
RIVA128. All other trademarks or service marks appearing in this Prospectus
are the property of their respective owners.
 
                               ----------------
 
  Except as set forth in the financial statements or as otherwise indicated
herein, information in this Prospectus (i) gives effect to the reincorporation
of the Company from California to Delaware in April 1998, (ii) gives effect to
the conversion of all of the Company's outstanding shares of Preferred Stock
into shares of Common Stock, which will occur automatically upon the closing
of this offering, and (iii) assumes that the Underwriters' over-allotment
option is not exercised. See "Description of Capital Stock" and
"Underwriters." The Company's fiscal years ended on December 31 from 1993 to
1997. Effective January 1, 1998, the Company changed its fiscal year end from
December 31 to a 52- or 53-week year ending on the last Sunday in December.
All general references to years relate to the above fiscal years unless
otherwise noted.
 
                                       4
<PAGE>
 
                                  THE COMPANY
 
  NVIDIA designs, develops and markets 3D graphics processors and related
software that provide high performance interactive 3D graphics to the
mainstream PC market. The Company's graphics processors incorporate a "fast-
and-wide" 100 megahertz, 128-bit graphics architecture that is designed to
deliver a highly immersive, interactive 3D experience with realistic imaging
and stunning effects. The Company's RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors
provide superior processing power at competitive prices and are architected to
take advantage of mainstream industry standards such as Microsoft
Corporation's ("Microsoft") Direct3D application programming interface
("API"). The highly integrated design of the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics
processors combines high performance 3D and 2D graphics on a single chip and
provides a simpler and lower cost graphics solution relative to competing
solutions, including multi-chip or multi-board 2D/3D graphics subsystems.
 
  Interactive 3D graphics technology is emerging as one of the most
significant new computing developments since the introduction of the graphical
user interface. The visually engaging and interactive nature of 3D graphics
responds to consumers' demands for a convincing simulation of reality beyond
what is possible with traditional 2D graphics. The fundamental interactive
capability of 3D graphics is expected to make it a natural and compelling
medium for existing and emerging applications for entertainment, Internet,
business and education.
 
  The Company believes that a PC's interactive 3D graphics capability
represents one of the primary means by which users differentiate among various
systems. PC users today can easily differentiate the quality of graphics and
prefer personal computers that provide a superior visual experience. These
factors have dramatically increased demand for 3D graphics processors; Mercury
Research estimates that 3D graphics will be standard in every PC unit shipped
by 2001. Mercury Research also estimates that 8.6 million 3D graphics
processors were sold in 1997 and 180 million will be sold in 2001.
 
  The Company's products allow users to enjoy a highly immersive, interactive
3D experience with compelling visual quality, realistic motion and complex
object and scene interaction at real-time frame rates. By providing this level
of performance at an affordable price to OEMs and end users, the Company
believes that it will accelerate the adoption of interactive 3D graphics
throughout the mainstream PC market. The Company's objective is to be the
leading supplier of high performance 3D graphics processors for PCs. The
Company's strategy to achieve this objective includes focusing on the
mainstream PC market, targeting leading OEM customers, extending its
technological leadership in 3D graphics and increasing its market share by
leveraging strategic alliances.
 
  NVIDIA's products are used by five of the top ten PC OEMs in the United
States--Compaq Computer Corporation ("Compaq"), Dell Computer Corporation
("Dell"), Gateway 2000, Inc. ("Gateway 2000"), Micron Technology, Inc.
("Micron") and Packard Bell NEC, Inc. ("Packard Bell NEC")--and leading add-in
board manufacturers such as Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. ("Diamond") and
STB Systems, Inc. ("STB"). The RIVA128 graphics processor has received
significant industry validation and has enabled the Company's customers to
receive over 80 awards from recognized industry publications, including PC
Magazine, PC Computing, PC World, Computer Gaming World, PC Games and CNET.
 
  NVIDIA was incorporated in California in April 1993 and reincorporated in
Delaware in April 1998. The Company's executive offices are located at 1226
Tiros Way, Sunnyvale, California 94086, and its telephone number is (408) 617-
4000.
 
                                       5
<PAGE>
 
                                 RISK FACTORS
 
  In addition to the other information in this Prospectus, the following
factors should be considered carefully in evaluating an investment in the
shares of Common Stock offered hereby. This Prospectus contains forward-
looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual
results may differ materially from the results discussed in such forward-
looking statements. Factors that may cause such a difference include, but are
not limited to, those discussed below, in the sections entitled "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" and
"Business" and elsewhere in this Prospectus.
   
  Unpredictable and Fluctuating Operating Results. Many of the Company's
revenue components fluctuate and are difficult to predict, and its operating
expenses are largely independent of revenue in any particular period. It is
therefore difficult for the Company to accurately forecast revenue and profits
or losses. The Company believes that, even if it does achieve significant
sales of its products, quarterly and annual results of operations will be
affected by a variety of factors that could materially adversely affect
revenue, gross profit and results of operations. Factors that have affected
the Company's results of operations in the past, and are likely to affect the
Company's results of operations in the future, include, among others, demand
and market acceptance for the Company's products; the successful development
of next-generation products; unanticipated delays or problems in the
introduction or performance of next-generation products; market acceptance of
the products of the Company's customers; new product announcements or product
introductions by the Company's competitors; the Company's ability to introduce
new products in accordance with OEM design requirements and design cycles;
changes in the timing of product orders due to unexpected delays in the
introduction of products of the Company's customers or due to the life cycles
of such customers' products ending earlier than anticipated; fluctuations in
the availability of manufacturing capacity or manufacturing yields;
competitive pressures resulting in lower than expected average selling prices;
the volume of orders that are received and that can be fulfilled in a quarter;
the rescheduling or cancellation of customer orders; the unanticipated
termination of a strategic relationship; seasonal fluctuations associated with
the tendency of PC sales to decrease in the second quarter and increase in the
second half of each calendar year; and the level of expenditures for research
and development and sales, general and administrative functions of the
Company. For example, the Company began shipping the RIVA128ZX graphics
processor in March 1998 and experienced difficulties in achieving volume
production. The Company believes that these production issues have been
resolved, and it began volume production of the RIVA128ZX graphics processor
in the second quarter of 1998. However, there can be no assurance that the
Company will not experience difficulties related to the production of current
or future products or that other factors will not delay the introduction or
volume sale of new products developed by the Company. The Company believes
that quarterly and annual results of operations also could be affected in the
future by other factors, including changes in the relative volume of sales of
the Company's products; seasonality in the PC market; the ability of the
Company to reduce the process geometry of its products; supply constraints for
the other components incorporated into its customers' products; the loss of a
key customer; a reduction in the amount of royalties received from ST
Microelectronics, Inc. ("ST"); changes in the pricing of dynamic random access
memory devices ("DRAMs") or other components; legal and other costs related to
defending intellectual property litigation; costs associated with protecting
the Company's intellectual property; inventory write-downs; and foreign
exchange rate fluctuations. Any one or more of these factors could result in
the Company failing to achieve its expectations as to future revenue or net
income.     
 
  Because most operating expenses are relatively fixed in the short term, the
Company may be unable to adjust spending sufficiently in a timely manner to
compensate for any unexpected sales shortfall, which could materially
adversely affect quarterly results of operations. The Company will be required
to reduce prices in response to competition or to pursue new market
opportunities. If new competitors, technological advances by existing
competitors or other competitive factors require the Company to invest
significantly greater resources than anticipated in research and development
or sales and marketing efforts, the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Accordingly,
the Company believes that period-to-period comparisons of its results of
operations should not be relied upon as an indication of future
 
                                       6
<PAGE>
 
performance. In addition, the results of any quarterly period are not
indicative of results to be expected for a full fiscal year. As a result of
fluctuating operating results or other factors discussed below, in certain
future quarters the Company's results of operations may be below the
expectations of public market analysts or investors. In such event, the market
price of the Company's Common Stock would be materially adversely affected.
See "--Absence of Prior Trading Market; Potential Volatility of Stock Price"
and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results
of Operations."
 
  Limited Operating History; History of Losses; No Assurance of Profitability.
The Company has a limited operating history upon which investors may evaluate
the Company and its prospects. The Company's recent revenue growth may not be
sustainable and should not be considered indicative of future revenue growth,
if any. As of March 29, 1998, the Company's accumulated deficit was
approximately $11.8 million. Although the Company generated net income in the
quarters ended March 29, 1998 and December 31, 1997, it incurred significant
losses in each other quarter of fiscal 1997 and in each quarter of its prior
fiscal years. There can be no assurance that in the future the Company will be
profitable on a quarterly or annual basis. The Company's prospects must be
considered in light of the significant risks, challenges and difficulties
frequently encountered by companies in their early stage of development,
particularly companies in intensely competitive and rapidly evolving markets
such as the 3D graphics processor market and semiconductor industry. To
address these risks, the Company must, among other things, successfully
increase the scope of its operations, respond to competitive and technological
developments, continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel and
continue to commercialize products incorporating innovative technologies.
There can be no assurance that the Company will be successful in addressing
these risks and challenges. See "--Highly Competitive Environment; Intel's
Entry into the Market," "--Dependence on New Product Development; Need to
Manage Product Transitions," "--Management of Growth," "--Dependence on Key
Personnel" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations."
 
  Dependence on Emerging Mainstream PC 3D Graphics Market. The Company's
success will depend in part upon the demand for 3D graphics for mainstream PC
applications. The market for 3D graphics on mainstream PCs has only recently
begun to emerge and is dependent on the future development of, and substantial
end-user and OEM demand for, 3D graphics functionality. As a result, there can
be no assurance that the market for mainstream PC 3D graphics computing will
continue to develop or grow at a rate sufficient to support the Company's
business. The development of the market for 3D graphics on mainstream PCs will
in turn depend on the development and availability of a large number of
mainstream PC software applications that support or take advantage of 3D
graphics capabilities. Currently there are only a limited number of such
software applications, most of which are games, and there can be no assurance
that a broader base of software applications will develop in the near term or
at all. Until very recently, the majority of multimedia PCs incorporated only
2D graphics acceleration technology, and as a result, the majority of graphics
applications currently available for mainstream PCs are written for 2D
acceleration technology. Consequently, there can be no assurance that a broad
market for full function 3D graphics on mainstream PCs will develop. If the
market for mainstream PC 3D graphics fails to develop or develops more slowly
than expected, the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations would be materially adversely affected. See "--Dependence on the PC
Market."
   
  Dependence upon Acceptance of the Company's 3D Graphics Solution for the
Mainstream PC Market. The Company's success will depend in part upon broad
adoption of its 3D graphics processors for high performance 3D graphics in
mainstream PC applications. The market for 3D graphics processors has been
characterized by unpredictable and sometimes rapid shifts in the popularity of
products, often caused by the publication of competitive industry benchmark
results, changes in DRAM pricing and other changes in the total system cost of
add-in boards, as well as by severe price competition and by frequent new
technology and product introductions. Only a small number of products have
achieved broad market acceptance and such market acceptance, if achieved, is
difficult to sustain due to intense competition. Since the Company has no
other product line, the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations would be materially adversely affected if for any reason its
current or future 3D graphics processors do not achieve widespread acceptance
in the mainstream PC market. If the Company is unable to complete the timely
development of or successfully and cost-effectively     
 
                                       7
<PAGE>
 
manufacture and deliver products that meet the requirements of the mainstream
PC market, the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations would be materially adversely affected. In addition, the PC
industry is seasonal, and the Company expects that its financial results in
the future will be affected by such seasonality.
   
  Demand for the Company's products has been and will continue to be
significantly affected by actual and anticipated changes in the price and
supply of DRAM products or other components used with PC graphics processors.
Recently, large supplies of synchronous DRAMs ("SDRAMs") resulted in
significant price declines for such components. This price decrease has
lowered the total system cost to customers of competitive products that use
such SDRAMS, as compared to the Company's RIVA128 graphics processor, which is
designed to operate using only synchronous graphic DRAMS ("SGDRAMS"), which
are relatively more expensive than SDRAMs. The Company expects that such
unfavorable price competition may negatively impact sales of the Company's
products. The Company expects to release a version of its RIVA128ZX graphics
processor shortly that will operate either with SDRAMS or SGDRAMS. There can
be no assurance that the Company will be successful in designing the RIVA128ZX
graphics processor to operate with SDRAMS or that future fluctuations in price
of components used by customers of PC graphics processors will not have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operations.     
 
  The sub-$1,000 segment of the mainstream PC market has grown rapidly in
recent quarters. The Company currently does not have a product offering to
address this market segment. If the Company is unable to introduce a product
that addresses this market segment and the sub-$1,000 segment continues to
account for an increasing percentage of the units sold in the mainstream PC
market, the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations
could be materially adversely affected.
 
  Highly Competitive Environment; Intel's Entry into the Market. The market
for 3D graphics processors for mainstream PCs in which the Company competes is
intensely competitive and is characterized by rapid technological change,
evolving industry standards and declining average selling prices. NVIDIA
believes that the principal factors of competition in this market are
performance, conformity to industry-standard APIs, software support, access to
customers and distribution channels, manufacturing capabilities, price of
graphics processors and total system costs of add-in boards. The Company
expects competition to increase both from existing competitors and new market
entrants with products that may be less costly than the Company's 3D graphics
processors or may provide better performance or additional features not
provided by the Company's products. There can be no assurance that the Company
will be able to compete successfully in the emerging mainstream PC 3D graphics
market.
 
  NVIDIA's primary source of competition is from companies that provide or
intend to provide 3D graphics solutions for the mainstream PC market. These
include (i) new entrants in the 3D graphics processor market with existing
presence in the PC market, such as Intel Corporation ("Intel"), (ii) suppliers
of graphics add-in boards that utilize their internally developed graphics
chips, such as ATI Technologies, Inc. ("ATI") and Matrox Electronic Systems
Ltd. ("Matrox"), (iii) suppliers of 2D graphics chips that are introducing 3D
functionality as part of their existing solutions, such as S3 Incorporated
("S3") and Trident Microsystems, Inc. ("Trident"), (iv) companies that have
traditionally focused on the professional market and provide high end 3D
solutions for PCs and workstations, including 3Dlabs Inc., Ltd. ("3Dlabs"),
Real3D and Silicon Graphics, Inc. ("SGI"), and (v) companies with strength in
the interactive entertainment market, such as Chromatic Research, Inc.
("Chromatic"), 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. ("3Dfx") and Rendition, Inc.
("Rendition").
 
  In March 1998, Intel began shipping the i740, a 3D graphics accelerator that
is targeted at the mainstream PC market. Intel has significantly greater
resources than the Company, and there can be no assurance that the Company's
products will compete effectively against the i740 or any future products
introduced by Intel, that the Company will be able to compete effectively
against Intel or that Intel will not introduce additional products that are
competitive with the Company's products in either performance or price or
both. NVIDIA expects Intel to continue to invest heavily in research and
development and new manufacturing facilities, to maintain its position as the
largest manufacturer of PC microprocessors and one of the largest
manufacturers of motherboards,
 
                                       8
<PAGE>
 
to increasingly dominate the PC platform and to promote its product offerings
through advertising campaigns designed to engender brand loyalty among PC
users. Intel may in the future develop graphics add-in cards or graphics-
enabled motherboards using its i740 3D graphics accelerators or other graphics
accelerators, which could directly compete with graphics add-in cards or
graphics-enabled motherboards that the Company's customers may develop. In
addition, due to the widespread industry acceptance of Intel's microprocessor
architecture and interface architecture, including its Accelerated Graphics
Port ("AGP"), Intel exercises significant influence over the PC industry
generally, and any significant modifications by Intel to the AGP, the
microprocessor or other aspects of the PC microprocessor architecture could
result in incompatibility with the Company's technology, which would have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations. In addition, any delay in the public release of
information relating to such modifications could have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operations.
 
  In April 1998, SGI and Intel announced a strategic relationship, which
includes a broad patent cross-license agreement. The Company believes that
this agreement will provide SGI with access to Intel processors for the
development of SGI workstations. In addition, the Company believes that under
the cross-license agreement Intel will have access to SGI graphics patents,
which may allow Intel to compete more effectively with the Company. SGI also
may compete directly with the Company as a result of this relationship with
Intel. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to compete
successfully against SGI or Intel. SGI filed a patent infringement lawsuit
against the Company in April 1998. See "--Legal Proceedings" and "Business--
Legal Proceedings."
 
  In addition to Intel, the Company competes with suppliers of graphics add-in
boards that utilize their internally developed graphics chips, such as ATI and
Matrox. NVIDIA also competes with companies that typically have operated in
the PC 2D graphics market and that now offer 3D graphics capability as an
enhancement to their 2D graphics solutions, such as S3 and Trident. Many of
these competitors have introduced 3D graphics functionality on new versions of
existing graphics chips. In addition, NVIDIA's competitors include companies
that traditionally have focused on the production of high end 3D graphics
systems targeted at the professional market, such as 3Dlabs and Real3D. While
these companies produce high performance 3D graphics systems, they
historically have done so at a significantly higher price point than the
Company and have focused on the professional and engineering market. Some of
these companies are developing lower cost versions of their 3D graphics
technology to bring workstation-like 3D graphics to mainstream PCs, and there
can be no assurance that the Company will be able to compete successfully
against them. For example, 3Dlabs markets the PERMEDIA 2, a graphics
accelerator designed for the mainstream PC market. NVIDIA also competes with
companies that have recently entered or are expected to enter the market with
an integrated 3D/2D graphics solution, but which have not traditionally
manufactured 2D graphics solutions, such as Chromatic, 3Dfx and Rendition. In
addition to the Company's known competitors, the Company anticipates that
there will be new entrants in the graphics processor market, and there can be
no assurance that the Company will compete effectively against any such new
competitors.
 
  Several of the Company's current and potential competitors have
substantially greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing,
distribution and other resources, greater name recognition and market
presence, broader product lines for the PC market, longer operating histories,
lower cost structures and larger customer bases than the Company. As a result,
they may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging technologies and
changes in customer requirements. Regardless of the relative qualities of the
Company's products, the market power, product breadth and customer
relationships of its larger competitors, particularly Intel, can be expected
to provide such competitors with substantial competitive advantages. The
Company does not seek to compete on the basis of price alone, but may be
forced to lower prices to compete effectively. There can be no assurance that
the Company will be able to compete successfully in the emerging mainstream PC
3D graphics market.
 
  Dependence on New Product Development; Need to Manage Product Transitions.
The Company's business, financial condition and results of operations will
depend to a significant extent on its ability to successfully
 
                                       9
<PAGE>
 
   
develop new products for the 3D graphics market. The Company's add-in board
manufacturers and major OEM customers typically introduce new system
configurations as often as twice per year, typically based on spring and fall
design cycles. Accordingly, the Company's existing products must have
competitive performance levels or the Company must timely introduce new
products with such performance characteristics in order to be included in new
system configurations. The Company must anticipate the features and
functionality that consumers will demand, incorporate those features and
functionality into products that meet the exacting design requirements of PC
OEMs and add-in board manufacturers, price its products competitively and
introduce the products to the market within the limited window for PC OEM and
add-in board manufacturer design cycles. As a result, the Company believes
that significant expenditures for research and development will continue to be
required in the future. The success of new product introductions will depend
on several factors, including proper new product definition, timely completion
and introduction of new product designs, the ability of ST, Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. ("TSMC") and any additional manufacturers to
effectively manufacture new products, the ability of the Company to design
products that effectively utilize the process technologies of ST, TSMC or any
other third-party manufacturers, the quality of any new products,
differentiation of new products from those of the Company's competitors and
market acceptance of the Company's and its customers' products. There can be
no assurance that any new products the Company expects to introduce will
incorporate the features and functionality demanded by PC OEMs, add-in board
manufacturers and consumers of 3D graphics, will be successfully developed or
will be introduced within the appropriate time to meet both the PC OEMs'
design cycles and market demand. The Company has in the past experienced
delays in the development of some new products, as discussed below. The
failure by the Company to successfully develop, introduce or achieve market
acceptance for new 3D graphics products would have a material adverse effect
on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.     
   
  As markets for the Company's 3D graphics processors develop and competition
increases, the Company anticipates that product life cycles will remain short
and average selling prices ("ASPs") will continue to decline. In particular,
ASPs and gross margins for the Company's 3D graphics processors are expected
to decline as each product matures and as per order unit volumes increase. As
a result, the Company will need to introduce new products and enhancements to
existing products to maintain overall average selling prices and gross
margins. In order for the Company's 3D graphics processors to achieve high
volumes, leading PC OEMs and add-in board manufacturers must select the
Company's 3D graphics processor for design into their products, and then
successfully complete the designs of their products and sell them. There can
be no assurance that the Company will successfully identify new product
opportunities, develop and bring to market in a timely fashion such new
products, that any such new products will be selected for design into PC OEMs'
and add-in board manufacturers' products, that such designs will be
successfully completed or that such products will be sold. As the complexity
of its products increases, there is an increasing risk that the Company will
experience problems with the performance of such products and that there will
be delays in the development or introduction of such products. In particular,
the Company began shipping the RIVA128ZX graphics processor in March 1998 and
experienced difficulties in achieving volume production. The Company believes
that these production issues have been resolved, and the Company began volume
production of the RIVA128ZX graphics processor in the second quarter of 1998.
There can be no assurance, however, that the Company will not experience
difficulties related to the production of current or future products or that
other factors will not delay the introduction or volume sale of new products
developed by the Company. There also can be no assurance that the Company will
be able to successfully manage the production transition risks with respect to
the RIVA128ZX graphics processor or other future products. Failure to achieve
any of the foregoing with respect to the RIVA128ZX graphics processor, future
products or product enhancements could result in rapidly declining ASPs,
reduced margins, reduced demand for products or loss of market share, any of
which could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition or results of operations. In addition, there can be no
assurance that technologies developed by others will not render the Company's
3D graphics products non-competitive or obsolete, which would have a material
adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations.     
   
  In the design and development of new products and product enhancements, the
Company relies on certain third-party software development tools. While the
Company currently is not dependent on any one vendor for     
 
                                      10
<PAGE>
 
   
the supply of such tools, there can be no assurance that all or any of such
tools will be readily available in the future. For example, the Company has
experienced delays in the introduction of products in the past as a result of
the inability of then-available software development tools to fully simulate
the complex features and functionalities of the Company's products. There can
be no assurance that the design requirements necessary to meet consumer
demands for more features and greater functionality from 3D graphics products
in the future will not exceed the capabilities of any such software
development tools. If the software development tools used by the Company
become unavailable or fail to produce designs that meet consumer demands, the
Company's business, financial condition or results of operations could be
materially adversely affected.     
   
  Legal Proceedings. On April 9, 1998, the Company was notified that SGI had
filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company in the United States
District Court for the District of Delaware. The suit alleges that the sale
and use of the Company's RIVA family of 3D graphics processors infringes a
United States patent held by SGI. The suit seeks unspecified damages
(including treble damages), an order permanently enjoining further alleged
infringement and attorneys' fees. On May 11, 1998, the Company was notified
that S3 had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company in the
United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The suit
alleges that the sale and use of the Company's RIVA family of 3D graphics
processors infringes three United States patents held by S3. The suit seeks
unspecified damages (including treble damages), preliminary and permanent
orders enjoining further alleged infringement and attorneys' fees. The Company
has filed answers to each suit and has filed counter-claims asserting that the
patents in each suit are neither infringed nor valid. Based on its
investigation to date, the Company believes that it has meritorious defenses
to the claims brought and the Company intends to defend itself vigorously with
respect to both lawsuits.     
   
  S3 also has filed a motion for preliminary injunction to bar the Company's
manufacture or sale of the RIVA128 products pending a final determination of
the lawsuit. The motion is set to be argued to the court on July 28, 1998, and
is based on one of the three patents asserted by S3. The Company believes that
it has meritorious defenses to the preliminary injunction motion and intends
to defend itself vigorously.     
   
  The Company expects that the litigation with SGI and S3 will likely result
in significant expense to the Company and divert the efforts of the Company's
technical and management personnel, whether or not such litigation results in
a favorable determination for the Company. In the event of an adverse result
in either suit, the Company could be required to do one or more of the
following: pay substantial damages (including treble damages); preliminarily
or permanently cease the manufacture, use and sale of any infringing products;
expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology; or obtain a
license from SGI or S3 for any infringing technology. Either of these suits
could result in limitations on the Company's ability to market its products,
delays and costs associated with redesigning its products or payments of
license fees or other payments to SGI or S3, any of which would have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations.     
 
  Importance of Design Wins. The Company's future success will depend in large
part on achieving design wins, which entails having its existing and future
products chosen as the 3D graphics processors for hardware components or
subassemblies designed by PC OEMs and add-in board manufacturers. The
Company's add-in board manufacturers and major OEM customers typically
introduce new system configurations as often as twice per year, typically
based on spring and fall design cycles. Accordingly, the Company's existing
products must have competitive performance levels or the Company must timely
introduce new products with such performance characteristics in order to be
included in new system configurations. The failure to achieve one or more
design wins would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. The process of being qualified
for inclusion in a PC OEM's product can be lengthy and could cause the Company
to miss a cycle in the demand of end users for a particular product feature,
which also could materially adversely affect the Company's business, financial
condition or results of operations.
 
  The Company's ability to achieve design wins will depend in part on its
ability to identify and ensure compliance with evolving industry standards.
Unanticipated changes in industry standards could render the Company's
products incompatible with products developed by major hardware manufacturers
and software developers, including Intel and Microsoft, which would require
the Company to invest significant time and resources to redesign its products
to ensure compliance with relevant standards. If the Company's products are
 
                                      11
<PAGE>
 
not in compliance with prevailing industry standards for a significant period
of time, the Company's ability to achieve design wins could be materially
adversely affected. The failure to achieve design wins, due to any of the
foregoing factors or otherwise, would result in the loss of any potential
sales volume that could be generated by such newly designed PC hardware
component or board subassembly and would give a competitive advantage to the
3D graphics processor manufacturer that achieved such design win.
 
  Dependence on the PC Market. In 1997 and the first quarter of 1998, the
Company derived all of its revenue from the sale or license of products for
use in PCs, and the Company expects to continue to derive substantially all of
its revenue from the sale or license of products for use in PCs. The PC market
is characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards,
frequent new product introductions and significant price competition,
resulting in short product life cycles and regular reductions of average
selling prices over the life of a specific product. Although the PC market has
grown substantially in recent years, there can be no assurance that such
growth will continue. A reduction in sales of PCs, or a reduction in the
growth rate of such sales, would likely reduce demand for the Company's
products. Moreover, such changes in demand could be large and sudden. Since PC
manufacturers often build inventories during periods of anticipated growth,
they may be left with excess inventories if growth slows or if they have
incorrectly forecast product transitions. In such cases, PC manufacturers may
abruptly suspend substantially all purchases of additional inventory from
suppliers such as the Company until the excess inventory has been absorbed.
Any reduction in the demand for PCs generally, or for a particular product
that incorporates the Company's 3D graphic processors, could have a material
adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operations.
 
  Customer Concentration; Risks of Order and Shipment Uncertainties. The
Company has only a limited number of customers and its sales are highly
concentrated. The Company primarily sells its products to add-in board
manufacturers, which incorporate graphics products in the boards they sell to
PC OEMs. Sales to STB and Diamond accounted for 63% and 31%, respectively, of
the Company's total revenue in 1997 and 49% and 39%, respectively, of the
Company's total revenue in the first quarter of 1998. Sales to add-in board
manufacturers primarily are dependent on achieving design wins with leading PC
OEMs, and the Company believes that the large majority of its revenue in its
most recent three quarters was attributable to products that ultimately were
incorporated into PCs sold by Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and Packard
Bell NEC. The number of add-in board manufacturers and leading PC OEMs is
limited, and the Company expects that a small number of add-in board
manufacturers directly, and a small number of PC OEMs indirectly, will
continue to account for a substantial portion of its revenue for the
foreseeable future. In particular, the Company expects that sales to STB and
Diamond will continue to account for a substantial portion of its revenue for
the foreseeable future. As a result, the Company's business, financial
condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected by
the decision of a single PC OEM or add-in board manufacturer to cease using
the Company's products or by a decline in the number of products sold by a
single PC OEM or add-in board manufacturer or by a small number of customers.
In addition, there can be no assurance that revenue from add-in board
manufacturers or PC OEMs that have directly or indirectly accounted for
significant revenue in past periods, individually or as a group, will
continue, or if continued, will reach or exceed historical levels in any
future period.
 
  Substantially all of the Company's sales are made on the basis of purchase
orders rather than long-term agreements. As a result, the Company may commit
resources to the production of products without having received advance
purchase commitments from customers. Any inability to sell products to which
the Company has devoted significant resources could have a material adverse
effect on the business, financial condition or results of operations of the
Company. In addition, cancellation or deferral of product orders could result
in the Company holding excess inventory, which could have a material adverse
effect on the Company's profit margins and restrict its ability to fund its
operations. The Company recognizes revenue upon shipment of products to the
customer. Refusal by customers to accept shipped products, or delays or
difficulties in collecting accounts receivable could result in significant
charges against income, which could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. See
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations."
 
  Management of Growth. The Company's rapid growth has placed, and is expected
to continue to place, a significant strain on the Company's managerial,
operational and financial resources. As of March 29, 1998, the Company had 119
employees as compared to 44 employees as of March 30, 1997, and the Company
expects
 
                                      12
<PAGE>
 
that the number of its employees will increase substantially over the next 12
months. The Company's financial and management controls, reporting systems and
procedures are very limited and will need to be upgraded significantly.
Although some new controls, systems and procedures have been implemented, the
Company's future growth, if any, will depend on its ability to continue to
implement and improve operational, financial and management information and
control systems on a timely basis, as well as its ability to maintain
effective cost controls, and any failure to do so effectively could have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operations. Further, the Company will be required to manage
multiple relationships with various customers and other third parties. There
can be no assurance that the Company's systems, procedures or controls will be
adequate to support the Company's operations or that the Company's management
will be able to achieve the rapid execution necessary to successfully
implement its strategy. The Company's inability to effectively manage any
future growth would have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the Company's
lease for its facilities will expire in August 1998, and the Company will be
required to secure larger facilities in order to accommodate its growth. An
inability of the Company to secure adequate facilities on reasonable terms, or
an inability to effectively manage the transition to larger facilities, could
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
or results of operations. See "Business--Employees," "--Facilities" and
"Management."
 
  Dependence on Third-Party Manufacturers; Absence of Manufacturing Capacity;
Manufacturing Risks. The Company does not manufacture the semiconductor wafers
used for its products and does not own or operate a wafer fabrication
facility. The Company's products require wafers manufactured with state-of-
the-art fabrication equipment and techniques. Substantially all of the
Company's products currently are manufactured by ST in Crolles, France
pursuant to a strategic collaboration agreement (the "ST Agreement"), and the
Company has recently established a relationship with TSMC as a second
semiconductor manufacturer. The Company obtains manufacturing services from
both ST and TSMC on a purchase order basis, and neither ST nor TSMC has any
obligation to provide the Company with any specified minimum quantities of
product. Because the lead time needed to establish a strategic relationship
with a new manufacturing partner could be several months, there is no readily
available alternative source of supply for any specific product. A
manufacturing disruption experienced by ST or TSMC would impact the production
of the Company's products for a substantial period of time, which would have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations. For example, in December 1997, the Company experienced
low manufacturing yields at ST. The Company believes that long-term market
acceptance for the Company's products will depend on reliable relationships
with ST, TSMC and any other manufacturers used by the Company to ensure
adequate product supply to respond to customer demand. ST has only recently
begun to manufacture the Company's products in commercial quantities, and
there can be no assurance that ST will be able to meet the Company's near-term
or long-term manufacturing requirements. In addition, the Company's
relationship with TSMC has only recently been established, and there can be no
assurance that this relationship will meet the business objectives of the
Company. Both ST and TSMC fabricate wafers for other companies, including
certain competitors of the Company, and ST also manufactures wafers for its
own needs, and either could choose to prioritize capacity for other uses or
reduce or eliminate deliveries to the Company on short notice.
 
  There are many other risks associated with the Company's dependence upon
third-party manufacturers, including reduced control over delivery schedules,
quality assurance, manufacturing yields and cost; risks associated with
international operations; the potential lack of adequate capacity during
periods of excess demand; limited warranties on wafers supplied to the
Company; and potential misappropriation of the Company's intellectual
property. The Company is dependent primarily on ST and, to a lesser extent,
TSMC, and expects in the future to continue to be dependent upon third-party
manufacturers to produce wafers of acceptable quality and with acceptable
manufacturing yields, to deliver those wafers to the Company and its
independent assembly and testing subcontractors on a timely basis and to
allocate to the Company a portion of their manufacturing capacity sufficient
to meet the Company's needs. The Company's wafer requirements represent a very
small portion of the total production capacity of ST. Although the Company's
products are designed using ST's process design rules, there can be no
assurance that ST will be able to achieve or maintain acceptable yields or
deliver sufficient quantities of wafers on a timely basis or at an acceptable
cost. Additionally, there can be no assurance
 
                                      13
<PAGE>
 
that ST will continue to devote resources to the production of the Company's
products or continue to advance the process design technologies on which the
manufacturing of the Company's products are based. Any such difficulties would
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations. See "--Dependence on Third-Party Subcontractors for
Assembly and Testing," "--Risks Associated with International Operations" and
"Business--Manufacturing."
 
  Dependence on ST Microelectronics. In addition to the Company's reliance on
ST to manufacture the Company's products, the Company licenses certain
technology on a non-exclusive basis from ST for use with the Company's
products. The inability of the Company to continue to license this technology
could result in delays or cancellations in product shipments until equivalent
technology can be identified, licensed or developed, and integrated with the
Company's products. The ST Agreement also grants ST a worldwide license to
sell the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors. Royalty revenue from sales
of the RIVA128 graphics processor by ST represented 6% and 12% of the
Company's total revenue in 1997 and the first quarter of 1998, respectively.
The Company expects royalty revenue from ST to decrease in the second quarter
of 1998 and subsequent quarters. In February 1998, ST and 3Dlabs established a
supply relationship for the manufacture by ST of 3Dlabs' PERMEDIA 2 3D
graphics accelerator. There can be no assurance that ST will not establish
similar relationships with other competitors of the Company or that sales of
the Company's products by ST will not be adversely affected by ST's
relationship with 3Dlabs or any other competitor of the Company. Sales by ST
of products similar to the Company's products could result in a decrease in
the Company's revenue, which would have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. See "--
Dependence on Third-Party Manufacturers; Absence of Manufacturing Capacity;
Manufacturing Risks," "--Dependence on Third-Party Subcontractors for Assembly
and Testing" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition
and Results of Operations."
 
  Under the ST Agreement, ST also has a worldwide license to incorporate the
technology underlying the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors (including
the source code and architecture) (the "RIVA Technology") in its own products,
subject to certain limitations on the modification of such technology, and a
right to receive software engineering and quality support from the Company for
the RIVA Technology through December 31, 1998. There can be no assurance that
ST will not develop and market products competitive with those of the Company
that contain additional features, better functionality and lower pricing.
Because ST has substantially greater financial, technical, manufacturing,
marketing, distribution and other resources than the Company, there can be no
assurance that the Company will be able to compete successfully against any
such ST product. The failure of the Company to successfully compete against
any such ST product could have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business, financial condition or results of operations.
 
  Dependence on Key Personnel. The Company's performance will be substantially
dependent on the performance of its executive officers and key employees, many
of whom have worked together for only a short period of time. In particular,
each of the Company's Chief Financial Officer, Vice President, Product
Marketing and Vice President, Corporate Marketing joined the Company in
December 1997. None of the Company's officers or employees is bound by an
employment agreement, and the relationships of such officers and employees
with the Company are, therefore, at will. The Company does not have "key
person" life insurance policies on any of its employees. The loss of the
services of any of its executive officers, technical personnel or other key
employees, particularly Jen-Hsun Huang, the Company's President and Chief
Executive Officer, would have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business, financial condition and results of operations. The Company's success
will depend on its ability to identify, hire, train and retain highly
qualified technical and managerial personnel. Competition for such personnel
is intense, and there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to
identify, attract, assimilate or retain highly qualified technical and
managerial personnel in the future. The inability to attract and retain the
necessary technical and managerial personnel would have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations. See "Business--Employees" and "Management."
 
  Manufacturing Yields. The fabrication of semiconductors is a complex
process. Contaminants, defects in masks used to print circuits on wafers,
difficulties in the fabrication process and other factors can cause a
 
                                      14
<PAGE>
 
substantial percentage of wafers to be rejected or a significant number of die
on each wafer to be nonfunctional. These problems are difficult to diagnose
and time-consuming and expensive to remedy. As a result, semiconductor
companies frequently encounter difficulties in achieving acceptable product
yields. When production of a new product begins, as with the RIVA128ZX
graphics processor, the Company typically pays for wafers, which may or may
not have any functional products. Accordingly, the Company bears the financial
risk until production is stabilized. Once production is stabilized, the
Company pays for functional die only. The Company typically begins wafer
production in advance of stabilized yields. Failure to stabilize yields or
failure to achieve acceptable yields would materially adversely affect the
Company's revenue, gross profit and results of operations. For example, in
December 1997, the Company experienced low manufacturing yields at ST. Any
similar occurrences in the future could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition or results of operations.
 
  Semiconductor manufacturing yields are a function both of product design,
which is developed largely by the Company, and process technology, which is
typically proprietary to the manufacturer. Since low yields may result from
either design or process technology failures, yield problems may not be
effectively determined or resolved until an actual product exists that can be
analyzed and tested to identify process sensitivities relating to the design
rules that are used. As a result, yield problems may not be identified until
well into the production process, and resolution of yield problems would
require cooperation by and communication between the Company and the
manufacturer. This risk is compounded by the offshore location of the
Company's manufacturers, increasing the effort and time required to identify,
communicate and resolve manufacturing yield problems. As the Company's
relationships with ST, TSMC and any additional manufacturing partners develop,
yields or product performance could be adversely affected due to difficulties
associated with adapting the Company's technology and product design to the
proprietary process technology and design rules of each manufacturer. Because
of the Company's potentially limited access to wafer fabrication capacity from
its manufacturers, any decrease in manufacturing yields could result in an
increase in the Company's per unit costs and force the Company to allocate its
available product supply among its customers, thus potentially adversely
impacting customer relationships as well as revenue and gross profit. There
can be no assurance that the Company's wafer manufacturers will achieve or
maintain acceptable manufacturing yields in the future. The inability of the
Company to achieve planned yields from its wafer manufacturers could have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operations. The Company also faces the risk of product recalls
resulting from design or manufacturing defects that are not discovered during
the manufacturing and testing process. In the event of a significant number of
product returns due to a defect or recall, the Company's business, financial
condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected. See
"--Risks Associated with International Operations."
 
  Transition to New Manufacturing Process Technologies. The Company's future
success will depend in part upon its ability to develop products that utilize
new manufacturing process technologies. Manufacturing process technologies are
subject to rapid change and require significant expenditures for research and
development. The Company continuously evaluates the benefits of migrating to
smaller geometry process technologies in order to improve performance and
reduce costs. The Company believes that the transition of its products to
increasingly smaller geometries will be important to its competitive position.
Other companies in the industry have experienced difficulty in migrating to
new manufacturing processes and, consequently, have suffered reduced yields,
delays in product deliveries and increased expense levels. Moreover, the
Company is dependent on its relationships with its third-party manufacturers
to migrate to smaller geometry processes successfully. No assurance can be
given that the Company will be able to migrate to new manufacturing process
technologies successfully or on a timely basis. Any such failure by the
Company could have a material adverse effect on its business, financial
condition or results of operations.
 
  Dependence on Third-Party Subcontractors for Assembly and Testing.
Substantially all of the Company's products historically have been assembled
and tested by ST in Malta. The Company recently qualified Anam Semiconductor
("Anam"), which is located in Korea, to assemble and test the Company's
RIVA128ZX graphics processor. The Company does not have long-term agreements
with either of these suppliers. As a result of its dependence on third-party
subcontractors for assembly and testing of its products, the Company does not
directly
 
                                      15
<PAGE>
 
control product delivery schedules or product quality. Any product shortages
or quality assurance problems could increase the costs of manufacture,
assembly or testing of the Company's products and could have a material
adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operation. Due to the amount of time typically required to qualify assemblers
and testers, the Company could experience significant delays in the shipment
of its products if it is required to find alternative third parties to
assemble or test the Company's products or components. Any delays in delivery
of the Company's products could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. See
"Business--Manufacturing."
 
  Risks Relating to Intellectual Property. The Company relies primarily on a
combination of patent, mask work protection, trademarks, copyrights, trade
secret laws, employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements and licensing
arrangements to protect its intellectual property. The Company has 15 patents
issued and 25 patent applications pending in the United States. Such issued
patents have expiration dates from May 2015 to November 2016. The issued
patents and pending patent applications relate to technology developed by the
Company in connection with the development of its 3D graphics processors,
including the RIVA128 graphics processor. The Company has no foreign patents
or patent applications. There can be no assurance that the Company's pending
patent applications or any future applications will be approved, or that any
issued patents will provide the Company with competitive advantages or will
not be challenged by third parties, or that the enforcement of patents of
others will not have an adverse effect on the Company's ability to do
business. In addition, there can be no assurance that others will not
independently develop substantially equivalent intellectual property or
otherwise gain access to the Company's trade secrets or intellectual property,
or disclose such intellectual property or trade secrets, or that the Company
can meaningfully protect its intellectual property. A failure by the Company
to effectively protect its intellectual property could have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operations.
 
  The Company attempts to protect its trade secrets and other proprietary
information through confidentiality agreements with manufacturers and other
partners, proprietary information agreements with employees and consultants
and other security measures. The Company also relies on trademarks and trade
secret laws to protect its intellectual property. Despite these efforts, there
can be no assurance that others will not gain access to the Company's trade
secrets, or that the Company can meaningfully protect its intellectual
property. In addition, effective trade secret protection may be unavailable or
limited in certain foreign countries. Although the Company intends to protect
its rights vigorously, there can be no assurance that such measures will be
successful.
   
  The semiconductor industry is characterized by vigorous protection and
pursuit of intellectual property rights or positions, which has resulted in
significant and often protracted and expensive litigation. The 3D graphics
market in particular has been characterized recently by the aggressive pursuit
of intellectual property positions, and the Company expects its competitors to
continue to pursue aggressive intellectual property positions. In April 1998,
SGI filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company and in May 1998,
S-3 filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company. See "--Legal
Proceedings." In addition, the Company from time to time has received notices
alleging that the Company has infringed patents or other intellectual property
rights owned by third parties. ST has certain patent licenses that in some
cases may allow ST to manufacture the Company's products without infringing
third-party patents. As the Company's products are manufactured by TSMC or
other manufacturers, such licenses will no longer benefit the Company and
therefore the risk of a third-party claim of patent infringement against the
Company will increase. In the event infringement claims are made against the
Company, the Company may seek licenses under such patents or other
intellectual property rights. However, there can be no assurance that licenses
will be offered or that the terms of any offered licenses will be acceptable
to the Company. The failure to obtain a license from a third party for
technology used by the Company could cause the Company to incur substantial
liabilities and to suspend the manufacture of products. Furthermore, the
Company may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for
infringement of the Company's proprietary rights or to establish the validity
of the Company's proprietary rights. The Company has agreed to indemnify
certain customers for claims of infringement arising out of sale of the
Company's product. Litigation by or against the Company or such customers
concerning infringement would likely, and the SGI and S3 lawsuits will, result
in significant expense to the Company and divert the efforts of the Company's
technical and management personnel, whether or not such litigation results in
a favorable     
 
                                      16
<PAGE>
 
   
determination for the Company. In the event of an adverse result in the SGI,
S3 or other litigation, the Company could be required to pay substantial
damages (which could include treble damages), cease the manufacture, use and
sale of infringing products, expend significant resources to develop non-
infringing technology, discontinue the use of certain processes or obtain
licenses for the infringing technology. There can be no assurance that the
Company would be successful in such development or that such licenses would be
available on reasonable terms, or at all, and any such development or license
could require expenditures by the Company of substantial time and other
resources. Although patent disputes in the semiconductor industry have often
been settled through cross-licensing arrangements, there can be no assurance
that, in the event that SGI, S3 or any other third party makes a successful
claim against the Company or its customers, a cross-licensing arrangement
could be reached. If such a license is not made available to the Company on
commercially reasonable terms, the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operations could be materially adversely affected.     
   
  There can be no assurance that infringement claims by third parties or
claims for indemnification by customers or end users of the Company's products
resulting from infringement claims will not be asserted in the future or that
such possible assertions or the assertions currently raised in the SGI and S3
litigation, if proven to be true, will not materially adversely affect the
Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. Any
limitations on the Company's ability to market its products, or delays and
costs associated with redesigning its products or payments of license fees to
third parties, or any failure by the Company to develop or license a
substitute technology on commercially reasonable terms, any of which may
result from the SGI or S3 litigation, could have a material adverse effect on
the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. See
"Business--Patents and Proprietary Rights."     
 
  Risk of Product Defects and Incompatibilities; Product Liability. Products
as complex as those offered by the Company may contain defects or failures
when introduced or when new versions or enhancements to existing products are
released. The Company has in the past discovered software defects and
incompatibilities with customers' hardware in certain of its products and may
experience delays or lost revenue to correct any new defects in the future.
Although the Company has not experienced material adverse effects resulting
from any such bugs, defects, failures or incompatibilities to date, there can
be no assurance that, despite testing by the Company, errors will not be found
in new products or releases after commencement of commercial shipments in the
future, which could result in loss of market share or failure to achieve
market acceptance. In addition, the Company's products typically go through
only one verification cycle prior to beginning volume production and
distribution of such products. As a result, the Company's products may contain
defects or flaws that are undetected prior to volume production and
distribution. The widespread production and distribution of defective products
could have a material adverse impact on the Company's business, financial
condition or results of operations. See "Business--NVIDIA Architecture,
Products and Products under Development."
 
  The Company's products are an integrated component of both PCs and business
workstations. Although the Company has not experienced any product liability
claims to date, the sale and support of products by the Company may entail the
risk of such claims. In addition, any failure by the Company's products or
software to properly perform could result in claims against the Company by its
customers. The Company maintains insurance to protect against certain claims
associated with the use of its products, but there can be no assurance that
its insurance coverage would adequately cover any claim asserted against the
Company. A successful claim brought against the Company that is in excess of,
or excluded from, its insurance coverage, could have a material adverse effect
on the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. In
addition, even claims that are ultimately unsuccessful could result in the
Company's expenditure of funds in litigation and management time and
resources. The Company has agreed to indemnify certain of its customers
against patent infringement, warranty and certain product defect claims. There
can be no assurance that the Company will not be subject to material claims in
the future, that such claims will not result in liability in excess of its
insurance coverage, that the Company's insurance will cover such claims or
that appropriate insurance will continue to be available to the Company in the
future at commercially reasonable rates.
 
  Erosion of Average Selling Prices. The semiconductor industry, including the
3D graphics processor industry, has been characterized, and is likely to
continue to be characterized by, rapid erosion of average selling prices due
to a number of factors, including rapid technological change,
price/performance enhancements and
 
                                      17
<PAGE>
 
product obsolescence. The Company anticipates that ASPs and gross margins for
its products will decrease over product life cycles, due to competitive
pressures and volume pricing agreements. Decreasing ASPs could cause the
Company to experience decreased revenue even though the number of units sold
is increasing. As a result, the Company may experience substantial period-to-
period fluctuations in future operating results due to ASP erosion. Therefore,
the Company must continue to develop and introduce on a timely basis next-
generation products and enhancements to existing new products that incorporate
additional or new features and functionalities and that can be sold at higher
ASPs. Failure to achieve the foregoing could cause the Company's revenue and
gross margins to decline, which would have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. See
"Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations."
 
  Risks Associated with International Operations. The Company's reliance on
foreign third-party manufacturing, assembly and testing operations subjects it
to a number of risks associated with conducting business outside of the United
States. These risks include unexpected changes in, or impositions of,
legislative or regulatory requirements, delays resulting from difficulty in
obtaining export licenses for certain technology, tariffs, quotas and other
trade barriers and restrictions, longer payment cycles, potentially adverse
taxes, the burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws and other
factors beyond the Company's control. The Company also is subject to general
political risks in connection with its international trade relationships.
Although the Company has not to date experienced any material adverse effect
on its business, financial condition or results of operations as a result of
such regulatory, political and other factors, there can be no assurance that
such factors will not have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business, financial condition or results of operations in the future or
require the Company to modify its current business practices. In addition, the
laws of certain foreign countries in which the Company's products are or may
be manufactured or sold, including various countries in Asia, may not protect
the Company's products or intellectual property rights to the same extent as
do the laws of the United States and thus make the possibility of piracy of
the Company's technology and products more likely. Currently, all of the
Company's arrangements with third-party manufacturers provide for pricing and
payment in U.S. dollars, and to date the Company has not engaged in any
currency hedging activities, although it may do so in the future. Although
currency fluctuations have been insignificant to date, there can be no
assurance that fluctuations in currency exchange rates will not have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operations in the future.
 
  Cyclical Nature of the Semiconductor Industry. The semiconductor industry
historically has been characterized by rapid technological change, cyclical
market patterns, significant ASP erosion, fluctuating inventory levels,
alternating periods of overcapacity and capacity constraints, variations in
manufacturing costs and yields and significant expenditures for capital
equipment and product development. In addition, the industry has experienced
significant economic downturns at various times, characterized by diminished
product demand and accelerated erosion of ASPs. The Company may experience
substantial period-to-period fluctuations in results of operations due to
general semiconductor industry conditions.
 
  Future Capital Needs; Uncertainty of Additional Funding. If the Company
continues to increase production of its products, it will be required to
invest significant working capital in inventory and accounts receivable. The
Company also intends to continue to invest heavily in research and development
for its existing products and for new product development. The Company's
future liquidity and capital requirements will depend upon numerous factors,
including the costs and timing of expansion of research and product
development efforts and the success of these development efforts, the costs
and timing of expansion of sales and marketing activities, the extent to which
the Company's existing and new products gain market acceptance, competing
technological and market developments, the costs involved in maintaining and
enforcing patent claims and other intellectual property rights, available
borrowings under line of credit arrangements and other factors. The Company
believes that the proceeds from this offering, together with the Company's
current cash balances and cash generated from operations, will be sufficient
to meet the Company's operating and capital requirements for at least the next
12 months. However, there can be no assurance that the Company will not
require additional financing within this time frame. The Company may be
required to raise additional funds through public or private financing,
strategic
 
                                      18
<PAGE>
 
relationships or other arrangements. There can be no assurance that such
additional funding, if needed, will be available on terms attractive to the
Company, or at all. Furthermore, any additional equity financing may be
dilutive to stockholders, and debt financing, if available, may involve
restrictive covenants. Strategic arrangements, if necessary to raise
additional funds, may require the Company to relinquish its rights to certain
of its technologies or products. The failure of the Company to raise capital
when needed could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition or results of operations. See "--Unpredictable and
Fluctuating Operating Results," "--Limited Operating History; History of
Losses; No Assurance of Profitability," "Use of Proceeds" and "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations."
 
  Year 2000 Compliance. Many existing computer systems and applications and
other control devices use only two digits to identify a year in the date
field, without considering the impact of the upcoming change in the century.
As a result, in less than two years, computer systems and applications used by
many companies may need to be upgraded to comply with "Year 2000"
requirements. Significant uncertainty exists in the computer industry
concerning the potential effects associated with such compliance. The Company
relies on its systems in operating and monitoring many significant aspects of
its business, including financial systems (such as general ledger, accounts
payable, accounts receivable, inventory and order management), customer
services, infrastructure and network and telecommunications equipment. The
Company also relies directly and indirectly on the systems of external
business enterprises such as customers, suppliers, creditors, financial
organizations and domestic and international governments. The Company
currently estimates that its costs associated with Year 2000 compliance,
including any costs associated with the consequences of incomplete or untimely
resolution of Year 2000 compliance issues, will not have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations
in any given year. However, the Company has not extensively investigated and
does not believe that it has fully identified the impact of Year 2000
compliance and has not concluded that it can resolve any issues that may arise
in complying with Year 2000 without disruption of its business or without
incurring significant expense. In addition, even if the Company's internal
systems are not materially affected by Year 2000 compliance issues, the
Company could be affected through disruption in the operation of the
enterprises with which the Company interacts.
 
  There can be no assurance that the Company's products will be Year 2000
compliant, that third-party products with which the Company's products
interface will be Year 2000 compliant or that any changes to third-party
products made in response to Year 2000 compliance issues will not render the
Company's products incompatible with such third-party products.
 
  Control by Existing Stockholders. Upon completion of this offering, the
Company's executive officers and directors, together with entities affiliated
with such individuals, will beneficially own approximately  % of the Company's
Common Stock (approximately  % if the Underwriters' over-allotment option is
exercised in full). Accordingly, these stockholders will be able to exercise
control over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of
directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. These
transactions include proxy contests, mergers involving the Company, tender
offers, open market purchase programs or other purchases of Common Stock that
could give stockholders of the Company the opportunity to realize a premium
over the then-prevailing market price for their shares of Common Stock. See
"Principal Stockholders."
 
  Absence of Prior Trading Market; Potential Volatility of Stock Price. Prior
to this offering, there has been no public market for the Common Stock. There
can be no assurance that an active trading market will develop or, if one
develops, that it will be maintained. The initial public offering price of the
Common Stock will be established by negotiation among the Company and the
Underwriters. See "Underwriters" for factors to be considered in determining
the initial public offering price. The market price of the shares of Common
Stock could be subject to significant fluctuations in response to the
Company's operating results, announcements of new products by the Company or
its competitors, and other factors, including general economic and market
conditions. In addition, the stock market in recent years has experienced and
continues to experience extreme price and volume fluctuations, which have
affected the market price of the stock of many companies, and particularly
 
                                      19
<PAGE>
 
technology companies, and which have often been unrelated or disproportionate
to the operating performance of these companies. These fluctuations, as well
as a shortfall in sales or earnings compared to securities analysts
expectations, changes in analysts recommendations or projections or general
economic and market conditions, may adversely affect the market price of the
Common Stock. In the past, securities class action litigation has often been
instituted following periods of volatility in the market price for a company's
securities. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and a diversion
of management attention and resources, which could have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operations.
 
  Anti-Takeover Provisions. The Company's Certificate of Incorporation (the
"Certificate") authorizes the Board of Directors to issue up to 2,000,000
shares of Preferred Stock and to determine the powers, designations,
preferences, rights, qualifications, limitations and restrictions, including
voting rights, of those shares without any further vote or action by the
stockholders. The rights of the holders of Common Stock will be subject to,
and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of any Preferred
Stock that may be issued in the future. The Certificate and Bylaws, among
other things, provide for a classified Board of Directors, require that
stockholder actions occur at duly called meetings of the stockholders, limit
who may call special meetings of stockholders and require advance notice of
stockholder proposals and director nominations. These and other provisions
could have the effect of making it more difficult for a third party to acquire
a majority of the outstanding voting stock of the Company, discourage a
hostile bid or delay, prevent or deter a merger, acquisition or tender offer
in which the Company's stockholders could receive a premium for their shares,
or a proxy contest for control of the Company or other change in the Company's
management. See "Management" and "Description of Capital Stock."
 
  Shares Eligible for Future Sale. The sale of a substantial number of shares
of Common Stock in the public market following this offering could adversely
affect the market price of the Common Stock. Upon the closing of this
offering, the Company will have outstanding an aggregate of      shares of
Common Stock, assuming no exercise of outstanding options and warrants, of
which 23,468,797 shares of Common Stock are "Restricted Shares" subject to
restrictions under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities
Act"). Restricted Shares may be sold in the public market only if registered
or if they qualify for an exemption from registration under Rules 144, 144(k)
or 701 promulgated under the Securities Act. Holders of certain shares of the
Company's Common Stock, including all officers and directors, have agreed (the
"Lock-Up Agreements"), subject to certain exceptions, not to offer, pledge,
sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any
option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or
otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any shares of Common
Stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for
Common Stock (whether such shares or any such securities are then owned by
such person or are thereafter acquired directly from the Company), or to enter
into any swap or similar arrangement that transfers, in whole or in part, the
economic risks of ownership of the Common Stock (a "disposition"), without the
prior written consent of Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated for a period of 180
days after the date of this Prospectus. As a result of such contractual
restrictions and the provisions of Rule 144 and 701, the Restricted Shares
will be available for sale in the public market as follows: (i) 47,500 shares
will be eligible for immediate sale on the date of this Prospectus; (ii)
4,952,500 shares will be eligible for sale 90 days after the date of this
Prospectus; (iii) 17,365,771 shares will be eligible for sale upon expiration
of lock-up agreements 180 days after the date of this Prospectus and (iv) the
remaining shares will be eligible for sale from time to time thereafter upon
expiration of the Company's right to repurchase such shares. In addition,
certain stockholders of the Company have the right to register shares of
Common Stock for sale in the public market, and the Company intends to
register shares of Common Stock authorized for issuance under the Company's
equity incentive plans shortly following the closing of this offering. See
"Description of Capital Stock" and "Shares Eligible for Future Sale."
 
  Dilution; Absence of Cash Dividends. Purchasers of the shares of Common
Stock offered hereby will experience immediate and substantial dilution in the
net tangible book value of their investment from the initial public offering
price. Additional dilution will occur upon exercise of outstanding options and
warrants. See "Dilution" and "Shares Eligible for Future Sale." The Company
has never paid any dividends and does not anticipate paying dividends in the
foreseeable future. See "Dividend Policy."
 
                                      20
<PAGE>
 
                                USE OF PROCEEDS
 
  The net proceeds to the Company from the sale of the      shares of Common
Stock offered by the Company hereby are estimated to be approximately $
($     if the Underwriters' over-allotment option is exercised in full), at an
assumed initial public offering price of $   per share and after deducting
estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering
expenses payable by the Company. The Company intends to use approximately $10-
12 million of the net proceeds to repay certain accounts payable. The balance
of the net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including
capital expenditures and working capital. The Company expects to spend
approximately $10 million for capital expenditures in 1998, primarily for
capital leases and the purchase of computer and engineering workstations. Such
capital expenditures are expected to be funded by a portion of the net
proceeds from this offering, together with existing cash balances and
anticipated cash flow from operations. The amounts and timing of the Company's
actual expenditures will depend upon numerous factors, including the status of
the Company's research and development efforts, the amount of cash generated
by the Company's operations, the level of the Company's sales and marketing
activities and the impact of competition. Pending such uses, the Company
intends to invest the net proceeds of this offering in short-term, investment-
grade, interest-bearing securities.
 
                                DIVIDEND POLICY
 
  The Company has never paid any cash dividends on its capital stock and does
not anticipate paying cash dividends for the foreseeable future.
 
                                      21
<PAGE>
 
                                CAPITALIZATION
 
  The following table sets forth the capitalization of the Company as of March
29, 1998 (i) on an actual basis, (ii) on a pro forma basis giving effect to
the conversion of all outstanding shares of Preferred Stock into shares of
Common Stock upon the closing of this offering and (iii) on a pro forma as
adjusted basis to reflect the receipt by the Company of the estimated net
proceeds from the sale of the      shares of Common Stock offered by the
Company hereby at an assumed initial public offering price of $   per share
and after deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and
estimated offering expenses payable by the Company.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                        MARCH 29, 1998
                                                --------------------------------
                                                                      PRO FORMA
                                                 ACTUAL   PRO FORMA  AS ADJUSTED
                                                --------  ---------  -----------
                                                        (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                                             <C>       <C>        <C>
Capital lease obligations, less current
 portion....................................... $  2,143  $  2,143      $
                                                --------  --------      -----
Stockholders' equity:
  Preferred Stock, $.001 par value; actual--
   10,000,000 shares authorized, 9,327,087
   shares issued and outstanding; pro forma and
   pro forma as adjusted-- 2,000,000 shares
   authorized, no shares issued and
   outstanding.................................        9       --         --
  Common Stock, $.001 par value; 200,000,000
   shares authorized; actual--14,141,710 shares
   issued and outstanding; pro forma--
   23,468,797 shares issued and outstanding;
   pro forma as adjusted--     shares issued
   and outstanding(1)..........................       14        23
  Additional paid-in capital...................   23,211    23,211
  Deferred compensation........................   (2,166)   (2,166)
  Accumulated deficit..........................  (11,811)  (11,811)
                                                --------  --------      -----
    Total stockholders' equity.................    9,257     9,257
                                                --------  --------      -----
      Total capitalization..................... $ 11,400  $ 11,400      $
                                                ========  ========      =====
</TABLE>
- --------
   
(1) Excludes (i) 6,066,833 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise
    of options outstanding at a weighted average exercise price of $3.91 per
    share, (ii) 158,806 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of
    warrants outstanding at a weighted average exercise price of $2.10 per
    share, (iii) 3,911,457 shares reserved for future grants under the
    Company's 1998 Equity Incentive Plan, (iv) 300,000 shares reserved for
    future grants under the Company's 1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock
    Option Plan, (v) 500,000 shares reserved for issuance under the Company's
    1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan and (vi) 131,750 shares of Common Stock
    issuable upon exercise of options granted after March 29, 1998. See
    "Management--Employee Benefit Plans" and Notes 3 and 8 of Notes to
    Financial Statements.     
 
                                      22
<PAGE>
 
                                   DILUTION
 
  The pro forma net tangible book value of the Company as of March 29, 1998
was approximately $9.3 million or $.39 per share of Common Stock. Pro forma
net tangible book value per share is equal to the Company's total tangible
assets less its total liabilities divided by the number of shares of Common
Stock outstanding (assuming the conversion of all outstanding shares of
Preferred Stock into Common Stock). After giving effect to the sale by the
Company of the      shares of Common Stock offered hereby (at an assumed
initial public offering price of $   per share and after deducting estimated
underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable
by the Company), the as adjusted net tangible book value of the Company as of
March 29, 1998 would have been $   million, or $   per share. This represents
an immediate increase in pro forma net tangible book value of $   per share to
existing stockholders and an immediate dilution of $   per share to new public
investors. The following table illustrates this per share dilution:
 
<TABLE>
   <S>                                                                 <C>  <C>
   Assumed initial public offering price per share....................      $
     Pro forma net tangible book value per share as of March 29,
      1998............................................................ $.39
     Increase in pro forma net tangible book value per share
      attributable to new public investors............................
                                                                       ----
   As adjusted net tangible book value per share after the offering...
                                                                            ---
   Dilution per share to new public investors.........................      $
                                                                            ===
</TABLE>
 
  The following table summarizes, on a pro forma basis as of March 29, 1998,
the difference between the number of shares of Common Stock purchased from the
Company (assuming the conversion of all outstanding shares of Preferred Stock
into Common Stock), the total cash consideration paid and the average price
per share paid by the existing stockholders and by the new public investors
(at an assumed initial public offering price of $   per share and before
deducting estimated underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated
offering expenses payable by the Company):
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                         AVERAGE
                                   SHARES PURCHASED  TOTAL CONSIDERATION  PRICE
                                  ------------------ -------------------   PER
                                    NUMBER   PERCENT   AMOUNT    PERCENT  SHARE
                                  ---------- ------- ----------- ------- -------
<S>                               <C>        <C>     <C>         <C>     <C>
Existing stockholders............ 25,669,630      %  $23,008,467      %   $.90
New public investors.............
                                  ---------- ------  ----------- ------
  Total..........................            100.0%  $           100.0%
                                  ========== ======  =========== ======
</TABLE>
 
  The immediately foregoing table includes 2,221,833 shares of Common Stock
issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options immediately
exercisable as of March 29, 1998 with a weighted average exercise price of
$1.05 per share. The foregoing excludes 3,845,000 shares issuable upon
exercise of outstanding options not immediately exercisable with a weighted
average exercise price of $5.56 per share and 158,806 shares of Common Stock
issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants with a weighted average
exercise price of $2.10 per share. To the extent that outstanding options or
warrants are exercised, there will be further dilution to new investors. See
"Management--Employee Benefit Plans" and Note 3 of Notes to Financial
Statements.
 
                                      23
<PAGE>
 
                            SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
 
  The following selected financial data should be read in conjunction with the
Company's financial statements and the notes thereto and "Management's
Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations"
included herein. The statement of operations data for the years ended December
31, 1995, 1996 and 1997 and the balance sheet data as of December 31, 1996 and
1997 have been derived from and should be read in conjunction with the audited
financial statements of the Company and the notes thereto included elsewhere
in this Prospectus that have been audited by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP,
independent auditors. The statement of operations data for the period from
inception (April 5, 1993) to December 31, 1993 and the year ended December 31,
1994 are derived from audited financial statements and the notes thereto not
included in this Prospectus. The balance sheet data as of December 31, 1993,
1994 and 1995 are derived from audited financial statements and the notes
thereto not included in this Prospectus. The selected statement of operations
data for the quarters ended March 30, 1997 and March 29, 1998 and the selected
balance sheet data as of March 29, 1998 are derived from unaudited financial
statements included elsewhere in this Prospectus that have been prepared on
the same basis as the audited financial statements and, in the opinion of
management, contain all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring
adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation as of such date. The operating
results for the quarter ended March 29, 1998 are not necessarily indicative of
the results to be expected for any other interim period or any future fiscal
year.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                             PERIOD FROM         YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,            QUARTER ENDED
                                              INCEPTION      ----------------------------------  -------------------
                                          (APRIL 5, 1993) TO                                     MARCH 30, MARCH 29,
                                          DECEMBER 31, 1993   1994     1995     1996     1997      1997      1998
                                          ------------------ -------  -------  -------  -------  --------- ---------
                                                          (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA)
<S>                                       <C>                <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>       <C>
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS DATA:
Total revenue...........................       $   --        $   --   $ 1,182  $ 3,912  $29,071   $    65  $ 37,662
Cost of revenue.........................           --            --     1,549    3,038   21,226       208    27,559
                                               -------       -------  -------  -------  -------   -------  --------
Gross profit (loss).....................           --            --      (367)     874    7,845      (143)   10,103
Operating expenses:
Research and development................           204           361    2,426    1,218    6,632       616     3,815
Sales, general and administrative.......           302           990    3,677    2,649    3,773       385     3,341
                                               -------       -------  -------  -------  -------   -------  --------
Total operating expenses................           506         1,351    6,103    3,867   10,405     1,001     7,156
                                               -------       -------  -------  -------  -------   -------  --------
Operating income (loss).................          (506)       (1,351)  (6,470)  (2,993)  (2,560)   (1,144)    2,947
Interest and other income (expense), net            22           (10)      93      (84)    (131)      (32)      (39)
                                               -------       -------  -------  -------  -------   -------  --------
Income (loss) before income tax expense.          (484)       (1,361)  (6,377)  (3,077)  (2,691)   (1,176)    2,908
Income tax expense......................           --            --       --       --       --        --        728
                                               -------       -------  -------  -------  -------   -------  --------
Net income (loss).......................       $  (484)      $(1,361) $(6,377) $(3,077) $(2,691)  $(1,176) $  2,180
                                               =======       =======  =======  =======  =======   =======  ========
Basic net income (loss) per share(1)....       $  (.07)      $  (.19) $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)  $  (.10) $    .15
                                               =======       =======  =======  =======  =======   =======  ========
Diluted net income (loss) per share.....       $  (.07)      $  (.19) $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)  $  (.10) $    .08
                                               =======       =======  =======  =======  =======   =======  ========
Shares used in basic and diluted per
 share computation(1)...................         6,784         7,048   11,365   11,383   12,677    11,578    14,142
Shares used in diluted per share
 computation(1).........................         6,784         7,048   11,365   11,383   12,677    11,578    25,729
</TABLE>
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                             DECEMBER 31,
                                  ----------------------------------- MARCH 29,
                                   1993   1994   1995   1996   1997     1998
                                  ------ ------ ------ ------ ------- ---------
                                                 (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                               <C>    <C>    <C>    <C>    <C>     <C>
BALANCE SHEET DATA:
Cash and cash equivalents........ $1,605 $4,555 $3,872 $3,133 $ 6,551  $ 8,640
Total assets.....................  1,786  5,450  6,793  5,525  25,038   36,738
Capital lease obligations, less
 current portion.................     76    249  1,137    617   1,891    2,143
Total stockholders' equity.......  1,659  4,629  4,013  1,037   6,896    9,257
</TABLE>
- --------
(1) See Note 1 of Notes to Financial Statements for an explanation of the
    determination of the number of shares used in per share computations.
 
                                      24
<PAGE>
 
  MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF
                                  OPERATIONS
 
  The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with the
Company's financial statements and notes thereto and the other financial
information included elsewhere in this Prospectus. Except for the historical
information contained herein, the discussions in this Prospectus contain
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. The Company's
actual results could differ materially from those discussed herein. Factors
that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not
limited to, those discussed below and in the section entitled "Risk Factors,"
as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Prospectus.
 
OVERVIEW
 
  NVIDIA designs, develops and markets 3D graphics processors that provide
high performance interactive 3D graphics to the mainstream PC market. The
Company incurred losses in each quarter from inception through the third
quarter of 1997 and in each year. As of March 29, 1998, the Company had an
accumulated deficit of approximately $11.8 million. Since its inception in
April 1993 through the end of 1994, NVIDIA was in the development stage and
was primarily engaged in product development and product testing. The Company
introduced its first product, the NV1, in May 1995. The NV1 was a multimedia
accelerator that provided 3D graphics, video and audio for interactive
multimedia, and was targeted primarily to the game console market. The NV1 was
developed in the absence of industry standards with the goal of establishing
the Company's proprietary NV technology as a 3D graphics standard. By the end
of 1996, the PC industry had broadly adopted Microsoft's Direct3D and SGI's
OpenGL 3D APIs. As a result, the Company experienced a significant reduction
in revenue from sales of the NV1 and stopped selling the NV1 in the first
quarter of 1996. The Company also ceased development of the NV2, a product
designed for a game console platform, and began developing the RIVA128
graphics processor. In August 1997, the Company introduced the RIVA128
graphics processor, which is designed to be compatible with Microsoft's
Direct3D and is the first in a family of high performance graphics products
targeted at the mainstream PC market.
 
  All of the Company's revenue in 1995 and 1996 was derived from the sale and
license of the NV1, and substantially all of the Company's revenue in 1997 and
the first quarter of 1998 was derived from the sale and license of the RIVA128
graphics processor. The Company expects that substantially all of its revenue
for the foreseeable future will be derived from the sale and license of its 3D
graphics processors in the mainstream PC market. The Company recognizes
product sales revenue upon shipment, net of allowances and recognizes royalty
revenue upon shipment of product to the licensee's customers. Since the
Company has no other product line, the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations would be materially adversely affected if for any
reason its graphics processors do not achieve widespread acceptance in the
mainstream PC market.
 
  A majority of the Company's sales have been to a limited number of customers
and its sales are highly concentrated. The Company sells its graphics
processors to add-in board manufacturers, primarily Diamond and STB, which
incorporate these processors in the boards they sell to PC OEMs, retail
outlets and systems integrators. The average selling prices for the Company's
products, as well as its customers' products, vary by distribution channel.
All of the Company's sales are made on the basis of purchase orders rather
than long-term agreements. Diamond accounted for 86% and 82% of the Company's
total revenue in 1995 and 1996, respectively. STB and Diamond accounted for
63% and 31%, respectively, of the Company's total revenue in 1997, and 49% and
39%, respectively, of the Company's total revenue in the first quarter of
1998. The number of potential customers for the Company's products is limited,
and the Company expects that sales to STB and Diamond will continue to account
for a substantial portion of its revenue for the foreseeable future.
Currently, all of the Company's product sales and its arrangements with its
third-party manufacturers provide for pricing and payment in U.S. dollars, and
the Company has not engaged in any foreign currency hedging activities,
although it may do so in the future.
 
  As markets for the Company's 3D graphics processors develop and competition
increases, the Company anticipates that product life cycles will remain short
and ASPs will continue to decline. In particular, ASPs and
 
                                      25
<PAGE>
 
   
gross margins for the Company's 3D graphics processors are expected to decline
as each product matures. The Company's add-in board manufacturers and major
OEM customers typically introduce new system configurations as often as twice
per year, typically based on spring and fall design cycles. Accordingly, the
Company's existing products must have competitive performance levels in order
to be included in new system configurations, or the Company must timely
introduce new products with such performance characteristics. The Company's
RIVA128 graphics processor was designed into products introduced in the fall
of 1997. While the Company expects to continue to sell the RIVA128 graphics
processor, as a result of increased competition from new products introduced
by both the Company and its competitors for the 1998 design cycles, the
Company expects revenues from the RIVA128 graphics processor in future periods
to decline substantially from the levels in the first quarter of 1998. Thus,
the Company will need to introduce new products and enhancements to existing
products to maintain overall average selling prices and gross margins.
Furthermore, in order for the Company's 3D graphics processors to achieve high
volumes, leading PC OEMs and add-in board manufacturers must select the
Company's 3D graphics processor for design into their products, and then
successfully complete the designs of their products and sell them. In
particular, the Company expects to begin volume shipments of the RIVA128ZX
graphics processor in the second quarter of 1998, and there can be no
assurance that the Company will be able to successfully manage the production
transition risks with respect to that product. Failure to achieve any of the
foregoing with respect to the RIVA128ZX graphics processor, future products or
product enhancements could result in rapidly declining ASPs, reduced margins,
reduced demand for products or loss of market share, any of which could have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operations. In addition, demand for the Company's products has been
and will continue to be significantly affected by actual and anticipated
changes in the price and supply of DRAM products or other components used with
PC graphics processors. Recently, large supplies of SDRAMs resulted in
significant price declines for such components. This price decrease has
lowered the total system cost to customers of competitive products that use
such SDRAMS, as compared to the Company's RIVA128 graphics processor, which is
designed to operate using only SGDRAMS, which are relatively more expensive
than SDRAMs. The Company expects that such unfavorable price competition may
negatively impact sales of the Company's products. The Company expects to
release a version of its RIVA128ZX graphics processor shortly that will
operate either with SDRAMS or SGDRAMS. There can be no assurance that the
Company will be successful in designing the RIVA128ZX graphics processor to
operate with SDRAMS or that future fluctuations in price of components used by
customers of PC graphics processors will not have a material adverse effect on
the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. See
"Risk Factors--Dependence upon Acceptance of the Company's 3D Graphics
Solution for the Mainstream PC Market," "--Dependence on New Product
Development; Need to Manage Product Transitions and "--Importance of Design
Wins."     
 
  The Company utilizes ST and TSMC to produce the Company's semiconductor
wafers and independent contractors to perform assembly, test and packaging.
The Company depends on these suppliers to allocate to the Company a portion of
their manufacturing capacity sufficient to meet the Company's needs, to
produce products of acceptable quality and at acceptable manufacturing yields
and to deliver those products to the Company on a timely basis. ST currently
is capacity constrained with respect to the manufacture of the Company's
products. ST has only recently begun to manufacture the Company's products in
commercial quantities, and there can be no assurance that ST will be able to
meet the Company's near-term or long-term manufacturing requirements. In
addition, the Company's relationship with TSMC has only recently been
established, and there can be no assurance that this relationship will meet
the business objectives of the Company. As the Company's relationships with
ST, TSMC and any additional manufacturing partners develop, yields or product
performance could be adversely affected due to difficulties associated with
adapting the Company's technology and product design to the proprietary
process technology and design rules of each manufacturer. A manufacturing
disruption experienced by either of these manufacturers would impact the
production of the Company's products, which would have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition and results of
operations. The Company obtains manufacturing services from both ST and TSMC
on a purchase order basis, and neither ST nor TSMC has any obligation to
provide the Company with any specified minimum quantities of product. Both ST
and TSMC fabricate wafers for other companies, including certain competitors
of the Company, and ST also manufactures wafers for its own needs, and either
could choose to prioritize capacity for other uses or
 
                                      26
<PAGE>
 
reduce or eliminate deliveries to the Company on short notice. In addition,
the Company purchases wafers and dies and pays an agreed price for wafers
meeting certain acceptance criteria only after the production yields for a
product stabilize. Once production is stabilized, the Company will pay for
functional die only. Accordingly, because TSMC has only recently begun to
manufacture products for the Company, until the production yields of its
product at TSMC stabilize, the Company must pay an agreed price for wafers
regardless of yield. See "Risk Factors--Dependence on Third-Party
Manufacturers; Absence of Manufacturing Capacity; Manufacturing Risks" and "--
Manufacturing Yields."
 
  The Company has in the past entered into contractual agreements with third
parties to provide design, development and support services on a best efforts
basis. All amounts funded to the Company under these
agreements were non-refundable once paid. The Company recorded reductions to
research and development expense based on the percentage-of-completion method,
limited by the amounts funded, and recorded primarily as a reduction to
research and development expenses. The Company developed the NV2 under
contract with a third party and recorded a credit to research and development
of $2.0 million in 1995 and $3.0 million in 1996. Also, as part of a strategic
collaboration agreement with ST, the Company received contract funding in
support of research and development and marketing efforts for the RIVA128 and
RIVA128ZX graphics processors. Accordingly, the Company recorded $2.0 million
in 1996 and approximately $2.3 million in 1997 as a reduction primarily to
research and development, and, to a lesser extent to sales, general and
administrative expenses. The Company is obligated to provide continued
development and support to ST through the end of 1998. The Company recorded
$625,000 for continued development and support in the first quarter of 1998
and expects to record a similar amount in each of the remaining three quarters
of 1998. The Company does not have any plans to enter into contractual
development arrangements and does not expect contract funding in the future.
 
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
 
  The Company first generated revenue from sales of its current 3D graphics
processor product in the third quarter of 1997, when the Company began
commercial shipment of the RIVA128 graphics processor. Prior to that time, the
Company's revenue was derived from the sale of products that were targeted at
the game console market. These products were discontinued in 1996 due to their
proprietary standards and market changes. Moreover, expenses prior to the
third quarter of 1997 related primarily to product development and product
testing.
 
QUARTERS ENDED MARCH 30, 1997 AND MARCH 29, 1998
 
  REVENUE
  Product Revenue. Product revenue increased from $65,000 in the first quarter
of 1997 to $33.2 million in the first quarter of 1998, due to sales of the
RIVA128 graphics processor, which the Company introduced in August 1997.
Although the Company achieved substantial growth in product revenue from the
1997 period to the 1998 period, the Company does not expect to sustain this
rate of growth in future periods. In addition, the Company expects that the
average selling prices of its products will decline over the respective lives
of such products, and there can be no assurance that declines in average
selling prices of 3D graphics processors will not accelerate as the market
develops and competition increases. See "Risk Factors--Erosion of Average
Selling Prices."
 
  Royalty Revenue. ST has a license from the Company to sell the NV1
multimedia accelerator and the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors.
Royalty revenue from ST's sales of the RIVA128 graphics processor increased to
$4.5 million in the first quarter of 1998 as a result of the Company's
introduction of the RIVA128 graphics processor in August 1997 and subsequent
sales of the RIVA128 graphics processor by ST. Although the Company achieved
substantial growth in royalty revenue from 1997 to 1998, the Company expects
royalty revenue from ST to decrease in the second quarter of 1998 and beyond.
If ST were to stop selling the Company's products, if there continued to be a
material decline in the number of units sold by ST in the future or if there
were a greater than expected decline in the ASPs of the Company's products
sold by ST, the
 
                                      27
<PAGE>
 
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations would be
materially adversely affected. See "Risk Factors--Dependence on ST
Microelectronics."
 
  GROSS PROFIT (LOSS)
  Gross profit consists of total revenue less cost of revenue. Cost of revenue
consists primarily of the costs of semiconductors purchased from the Company's
contract manufacturers, manufacturing support costs (labor and overhead
associated with such purchases) and shipping costs. The Company had a gross
loss of $143,000 in the first quarter of 1997 compared to a gross profit of
$10.1 million in the first quarter of 1998. Excluding royalty revenue, gross
margin on product revenue improved from (219)% in the first quarter of 1997 to
17% in the first quarter of 1998 due to sales of the RIVA128 graphics
processor. Although the Company achieved substantial growth in gross profit
and gross margin from the 1997 period to the 1998 period, the Company does not
expect to sustain these rates of growth in future periods. Gross profit or
gross margin could be affected in the future by various factors, including
changes in the volume of the Company's products, competitive pressures
resulting in lower than expected ASPs, reduction in the amount of royalty
revenue received from ST and inventory write-downs.
 
  OPERATING EXPENSES
   
  Research and Development. Research and development expenses consist
primarily of salaries and benefits, cost of development tools and software,
and consultant costs, net of contract funding from ST. Research and
development expenses before adjustments for contract funding increased from
$616,000 in the first quarter of 1997 to $3.8 million in the first quarter of
1998, primarily due to additional personnel and related costs, such as
depreciation changes incurred on capital expenditures and software license and
maintenance fees. The Company anticipates that it will continue to devote
substantial resources to research and development and that these expenses will
exceed $3.8 million, net of contract funding from ST, in each of the remaining
three quarters of 1998.     
   
  Sales, General and Administrative. Sales, general and administrative
expenses consist primarily of salaries, commissions and bonuses earned by
sales, marketing and administrative personnel, promotional and advertising
expenses, and travel and entertainment, net of contract funding received from
ST. Sales, general and administrative expenses increased from $385,000 in the
first quarter of 1997 to $3.3 million in the first quarter of 1998, primarily
due to increased promotional expenses, additional personnel and commissions
and bonuses on sales of the RIVA128 graphics processor. The Company expects
that sales and marketing expenses will continue to increase in absolute
dollars as the Company expands its sales and marketing efforts and increases
promotional activities, and that general and administrative expenses will
increase in connection with expenses related to the SGI and S3 patent lawsuits
until such lawsuits are resolved, expenses associated with being a public
company and the Company's expected move to a larger facility in the third
quarter of 1998.     
 
  INTEREST AND OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET
  Interest expense primarily consists of interest incurred as a result of
capital lease obligations. Interest expense increased from $54,000 in the
first quarter of 1997 to $83,000 in the first quarter of 1998, primarily as a
result of additional equipment leased in support of the Company's development
activities. Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on the
Company's cash and cash equivalents. Interest income was $22,000 and $44,000
in the first quarter of 1997 and 1998, respectively. Interest income was
higher in the first quarter of 1998 due to higher average cash balances as a
result of the Company's receipt of net proceeds from the sale of preferred
stock in August 1997 and net cash provided by operating activities in the two
quarters ended March 29, 1998.
   
  PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES     
  The Company recorded no provision for federal or state income taxes through
1997 because the Company experienced net losses from inception through 1997.
The Company expects to record a provision for income taxes in 1998, the amount
of which will depend on several factors, including the availability of net
operating loss carryforwards and research and development carryforwards.
Future equity offerings combined with sales of
 
                                      28
<PAGE>
 
the Company's equity during the preceding three years may constitute changes
in ownership under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and could limit the use
of the Company's net operating loss carryforwards existing as of the date of
the ownership change. Realization of the deferred tax assets also will depend
on future taxable income.
 
FISCAL YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1995, 1996 AND 1997
 
  REVENUE
  Product Revenue. Product revenue was $1.1 million, $3.7 million and $27.3
million in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. Prior to 1997, product revenue
was derived from sales of the Company's NV1 processor. The substantial
increase in product revenue from 1996 to 1997 was due to sales of the RIVA128
graphics processor, which the Company introduced in August 1997. Although the
Company achieved substantial growth in product revenue in 1996 and 1997, the
Company does not expect to sustain this rate of sequential annual growth in
future periods.
 
  Royalty Revenue. Royalty revenue was $79,000, $202,000 and $1.8 million in
1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. Royalty revenue increased in 1997 as a
result of the Company's introduction of the RIVA128 graphics processor in
August 1997 and subsequent sales of the RIVA128 graphics processor by ST.
Although the Company achieved substantial growth in royalty revenue from 1996
to 1997, the Company does not expect to sustain this rate of sequential annual
growth in future periods.
 
  GROSS PROFIT (LOSS)
  The gross loss of $367,000 in 1995 was attributable to fixed manufacturing
support costs in a period of low product sales. Increased sales and slightly
lower fixed manufacturing costs contributed to a gross profit of $874,000 in
1996. The introduction of the RIVA128 graphics processor in August 1997 and
subsequent sales contributed to a gross profit of $7.9 million in 1997.
Excluding royalty revenue, gross margin on product revenue was (40)%, 18% and
22% in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. The increase in gross margin on
product revenue in 1997 was primarily due to sales of the RIVA128 graphics
processor. Although the Company achieved substantial growth in gross profit
and moderate growth in gross margin from 1996 to 1997, the Company does not
expect to sustain these rates of sequential annual growth in future periods.
 
  OPERATING EXPENSES
  Research and Development. Research and development expenses before
adjustments for contract funding were $4.4 million, $5.8 million and $8.6
million in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively. Research and development
expenses increased each year primarily due to additional personnel and related
costs.
 
  Sales, General and Administrative. Sales, general and administrative
expenses decreased from $3.7 million in 1995 to $2.6 million in 1996 as the
Company curtailed promotional activities associated with the NV1. Sales,
general and administrative expenses increased to $3.8 million in 1997
primarily due to incremental promotional expenses, additional personnel and
commissions and bonuses on sales of the RIVA128 graphics processor.
 
  INTEREST AND OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE), NET
  Interest expense was $152,000, $216,000 and $267,000 in 1995, 1996 and 1997,
respectively. Interest expense increased each year as a result of additional
equipment leased in support of the Company's development activities. Interest
income was $245,000, $132,000 and $136,000 in 1995, 1996 and 1997,
respectively. Interest income was higher in 1995 due to higher average cash
balances during the year as a result of the Company's receipt of net proceeds
from the sale of preferred stock.
 
  PROVISION FOR INCOME TAXES.
  No provision for federal or state income tax was recorded because the
Company experienced net losses from inception through 1997. As of December 31,
1997, the Company had deferred tax assets for federal tax purposes of
approximately $6.3 million, primarily consisting of net operating loss
carryforwards that can be used to offset taxable income in future years. The
deferred tax assets are fully offset by a valuation allowance.
 
                                      29
<PAGE>
 
QUARTERLY RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
 
  The following table presents certain quarterly statement of operations data
for the five quarters ended March 29, 1998. This quarterly information is
unaudited, but has been prepared on the same basis as the audited annual
financial statements, and in the opinion of the Company's management includes
all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary
for a fair presentation of the information for the periods presented. The
unaudited quarterly information should be read in conjunction with the
Company's audited financial statements and the notes thereto included
elsewhere herein. The growth in revenue and improvement in results of
operations experienced by the Company in recent quarters are not necessarily
indicative of future results. In addition, in light of its significant growth
in recent quarters, the Company believes that period-to-period comparisons of
its financial results should not be relied upon as an indication of future
performance.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                 QUARTER ENDED
                                -------------------------------------------------
                                MARCH 30, JUNE 29,  SEPT. 28, DEC. 31,  MARCH 29,
                                  1997      1997      1997      1997      1998
                                --------- --------  --------- --------  ---------
<S>                             <C>       <C>       <C>       <C>       <C>
STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS DATA:        (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA)
Revenue:
  Product......................  $    65  $     6    $ 5,154  $22,055    $33,210
  Royalty......................      --       --         312    1,479      4,452
                                 -------  -------    -------  -------    -------
    Total revenue..............       65        6      5,466   23,534     37,662
                                 -------  -------    -------  -------    -------
Cost of revenue................      208      150      4,546   16,322     27,559
    Gross profit (loss)........     (143)    (144)       920    7,212     10,103
Operating expenses:
  Research and development.....      616      512      2,312    3,192      3,815
  Sales, general and
   administrative..............      385      569        991    1,828      3,341
                                 -------  -------    -------  -------    -------
    Total operating expenses...    1,001    1,081      3,303    5,020      7,156
                                 -------  -------    -------  -------    -------
Operating income (loss)........   (1,144)  (1,225)    (2,383)   2,192      2,947
Interest and other income
 (expense), net................      (32)     (40)       (30)     (29)       (39)
                                 -------  -------    -------  -------    -------
Income (loss) before tax
 expense.......................   (1,176)  (1,265)    (2,413)   2,163      2,908
Income tax expense.............      --       --         --       --         728
                                 -------  -------    -------  -------    -------
    Net income (loss)..........  $(1,176) $(1,265)   $(2,413) $ 2,163    $ 2,180
                                 =======  =======    =======  =======    =======
Basic net income (loss) per
 share.........................  $  (.10) $  (.11)   $  (.18) $   .15    $   .15
                                 =======  =======    =======  =======    =======
Diluted net income (loss) per
 share.........................  $  (.10) $  (.11)   $  (.18) $   .09    $   .08
                                 =======  =======    =======  =======    =======
Shares used in basic per share
 computation...................   11,578   11,662     13,328   14,074     14,142
Shares used in diluted per
 share computation.............   11,578   11,662     13,328   24,942     25,729
</TABLE>
 
FACTORS AFFECTING OPERATING RESULTS
 
  The Company's quarterly and annual results of operations will be affected by
a variety of factors that could materially adversely affect revenue, gross
profit and results of operations. Factors that have affected the Company's
results of operations in the past, and are likely to affect the Company's
results of operations in the future, include, among others, demand and market
acceptance of the Company's products; the successful development of next-
generation products; unanticipated delays or problems in the introduction or
performance of next-generation products; market acceptance of the products of
the Company's customers; new product announcements or product introductions by
the Company's competitors; the Company's ability to introduce new products in
accordance with OEM design requirements and design cycles; changes in the
timing of product orders due to unexpected delays in the introduction of
products of the Company's customers or due to the life cycles of such
customers' products ending earlier than anticipated; fluctuations in the
availability of manufacturing capacity or manufacturing yields; competitive
pressures resulting in lower than expected average
 
                                      30
<PAGE>
 
   
selling prices; the volume of orders that are received and that can be
fulfilled in a quarter; the rescheduling or cancellation of customer orders;
the unanticipated termination of a strategic relationship; seasonal
fluctuations associated with the tendency of PC sales to decrease in the
second quarter and increase in the second half of zeach calendar year; and the
level of expenditures for research and development of sales, general and
administrative functions of the Company. For example, the Company began
shipping the RIVA128ZX graphics processor in March 1998, and experienced
difficulties in achieving volume production. The Company believes that these
production issues have been resolved, and the Company began volume production
in the second quarter of 1998. However, there can be no assurance that the
Company will not experience difficulties related to the production of current
or future products or that other factors will not delay the introduction or
volume sale of new products developed by the Company. The Company believes
that quarterly and annual results of operations also could be affected in the
future by other factors, including changes in the relative volume of sales of
the Company's products; seasonality in the PC market; the ability of the
Company to reduce the process geometry of its products; supply constraints for
the other components incorporated into its customers' products; the loss of a
key customer; a reduction in the amount of royalties received from ST; changes
in the pricing of DRAMs or other components; legal and other costs related to
defending intellectual property litigation; costs associated with protecting
the Company's intellectual property; inventory write-downs and foreign
exchange rate fluctuations. Any one or more of these factors could result in
the Company failing to achieve its expectations as to future revenue or net
income. For example, in December 1997, the Company's sales of the RIVA128
graphics processor were negatively affected due to low manufacturing yields at
ST, the Company's sole manufacturer of the RIVA128 graphics processor. Any
similar manufacturing difficulties with ST or other third-party manufacturers
in the future could have a material adverse impact on the Company's business,
financial condition or results of operations.     
 
  Because most operating expenses are relatively fixed in the short term, the
Company may be unable to adjust spending sufficiently in a timely manner to
compensate for any unexpected sales shortfall, which could materially
adversely affect quarterly results of operations. The Company will be required
to reduce prices in response to competition or to pursue new market
opportunities. If new competitors, technological advances by existing
competitors or other competitive factors require the Company to invest
significantly greater resources than anticipated in research and development
or sales and marketing efforts, the Company's business, financial condition
and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. Accordingly,
the Company believes that period-to-period comparisons of its results of
operations should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance.
In addition, the results of any quarterly period are not indicative of results
to be expected for a full fiscal year. As a result of fluctuating operating
results or other factors discussed above, in certain future quarters the
Company's results of operations may be below the expectations of public market
analysts or investors. In such event, the market price of the Company's Common
Stock would be materially adversely affected.
 
  In 1997 and the first quarter of 1998, the Company derived all of its
revenue from the sale or license of products for use in PCs, and the Company
expects to continue to derive substantially all of its revenue from the sale
or license of products for use in PCs. As a result, failure of the demand for
3D graphics in the mainstream PC market to increase, or reductions or
fluctuations in the demand for PCs, would have a material adverse effect on
the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. The PC
industry is seasonal, and the Company expects that its financial results in
the future will be affected by such seasonality.
 
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
   
  SGI filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company in April 1998
and S3 filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company in May 1998. In
the event of an adverse result in either the SGI suit or the S3 suit, the
Company could be required to do one or more of the following: pay substantial
damages (including treble damages); preliminarily and/or permanently cease the
manufacture, use and sale of any infringing products; expend significant
resources to develop non-infringing technology; or obtain a license from SGI
or S3 for any infringing technology. Either suit could result in limitations
on the Company's ability to market its products, delays and costs associated
with redesigning its products or payments of license fees or other payments to
SGI or S3, any of which would have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business, financial condition and results of operations. See "Business--Legal
Proceedings."     
 
                                      31
<PAGE>
 
STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION
 
  With respect to certain stock options granted to employees, the Company
recorded deferred compensation of $2.1 million in 1997 and $305,000 in the
first quarter of 1998. The Company amortized approximately $62,000 of the
deferred compensation in the fourth quarter of 1997 and $177,000 in the first
quarter of 1998 and will amortize the remainder over the four-year vesting
periods of the options. See Note 3 of Notes to Financial Statements.
 
YEAR 2000 COMPLIANCE
 
  Many existing computer systems and applications and other control devices
use only two digits to identify a year in the date field, without considering
the impact of the upcoming change in the century. As a result, in less than
two years, computer systems and applications used by many companies may need
to be upgraded to comply with "Year 2000" requirements. The Company relies on
its systems in operating and monitoring many significant aspects of its
business, including financial systems (such as general ledger, accounts
payable, accounts receivable, inventory and order management), customer
services, infrastructure and network and telecommunications equipment. The
Company also relies directly and indirectly on the systems of external
business enterprises such as customers, suppliers, creditors, financial
organizations and domestic and international governments. The Company
currently estimates that its costs associated with Year 2000 compliance,
including any costs associated with the consequences of incomplete or untimely
resolution of Year 2000 compliance issues, will not have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operations. However, the Company has not extensively investigated and does not
believe it has fully identified the impact of Year 2000 compliance and has not
concluded that it can resolve any issues that may arise in complying with Year
2000 without disruption of its business or without incurring significant
expense. In addition, even if the Company's internal systems are not
materially affected by Year 2000 compliance issues, the Company could be
affected through disruption in the operation of the enterprises with which the
Company interacts.
 
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
 
  Since inception, the Company has financed its operations primarily through
private sales of convertible preferred stock totaling $19.7 million and, to a
lesser extent, equipment lease financing and proceeds received from the
exercise of employee stock options. As of March 29, 1998, the Company had $8.6
million in cash and cash equivalents and no outstanding bank indebtedness. The
Company has historically held its cash balances in cash equivalents such as
money market funds or as cash. The Company places its money market funds with
high credit quality financial institutions and limits the amount of exposure
with any one financial institution.
 
  Net cash used in operating activities was $6.1 million in 1995, $300,000 in
1996 and $1.2 million in 1997. The decrease from 1995 to 1996 was a result of
a smaller operating loss and higher deferred contract funding in 1996, and the
increase from 1996 to 1997 was a result of substantial increases in accounts
receivable in 1997, partially offset by an increase in accounts payable. Net
cash provided by operating activities was $4.4 million in the first quarter of
1998, consisting of net income for the quarter and changes in working capital.
The Company's accounts receivable are highly concentrated and three customers
accounted for all accounts receivable in 1997 and the first quarter of 1998.
Although the Company has not experienced any bad debt write-offs to date,
there can be no assurance that the Company will not be required to write off
bad debt in the future, which would have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
  To date, the Company's investing activities have consisted primarily of
purchases of property and equipment. As of March 29, 1998, the Company did not
have any material commitments other than commitments under operating and
capital leases. See Note 4 of Notes to Financial Statements. The Company's
capital expenditures, including capital leases, increased from $1.4 million in
1995 to $5.8 million in 1997, due to additional capital leases and purchases
of computer equipment, including workstations and servers to support the
Company's increased research and development activities. The Company invested
$2.8 million in capital
 
                                      32
<PAGE>
 
expenditures in the first quarter of 1998, including capital leases primarily
on computer equipment and software, including workstations and servers, in
support of the Company's increased research and development activities. The
Company expects its capital expenditures to increase as the Company further
expands its research and development initiatives and as its employee base
grows. The timing and amount of future capital expenditures will depend
primarily on the Company's future growth. The Company expects to spend
approximately $10 million for capital expenditures in 1998, primarily for
capital leases and the purchase of computer and engineering workstations.
 
  The Company believes that the net proceeds from this offering, together with
its existing cash balances, anticipated cash flows from operations and capital
lease financing, will be sufficient to meet the Company's operating and
capital requirements for at least the next 12 months, although the Company
could be required, or could elect, to raise additional funds during such
period. The Company's future liquidity and capital requirements will depend
upon numerous factors, including the costs and timing of expansion of research
and product development efforts and the success of these development efforts,
the costs and timing of expansion of sales and marketing activities, the
extent to which the Company's existing and new products gain market
acceptance, competing technological and market developments, the costs
involved in maintaining and enforcing patent claims and other intellectual
property rights, available borrowings under line of credit arrangements and
other factors. The Company expects that it may need to raise additional equity
or debt financing in the future. There can be no assurance that such
additional financing will be available at all, or that such financing, if
available will be obtainable on terms favorable to the Company and will not be
dilutive to the Company's then-current stockholders.
 
                                      33
<PAGE>
 
                                   BUSINESS
 
OVERVIEW
 
  NVIDIA designs, develops and markets 3D graphics processors and related
software that provide high performance interactive 3D graphics to the
mainstream PC market. The Company's graphics processors incorporate a "fast-
and-wide" 100 megahertz, 128-bit graphics architecture that is designed to
deliver a highly immersive, interactive 3D experience with realistic imagery
and stunning effects. The Company's RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors
provide superior processing power at competitive prices and are architected to
take advantage of mainstream industry standards such as Microsoft's Direct3D.
The highly integrated design of the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors
combines high performance 3D and 2D graphics on a single chip and provides a
simpler and lower cost graphics solution relative to competing solutions,
including multi-chip or multi-board 2D/3D graphics subsystems.
 
  NVIDIA designed the RIVA128 graphics processor to enable PC OEMs and add-in
board manufacturers to build award-winning products by delivering state-of-
the-art interactive 3D graphics capability to end users while maintaining
affordable prices. The Company believes that by developing 3D graphics
solutions that provide superior performance and address the key requirements
of the mainstream PC market, it will accelerate the adoption of 3D graphics
throughout this market. The benefits and performance of the RIVA128 graphics
processor have received significant industry validation and have enabled the
Company's customers to win over 80 industry awards. NVIDIA's products
currently are designed into products offered by five of the top ten PC OEMs in
the United States--Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and Packard Bell NEC--
and by leading add-in board manufacturers such as Diamond and STB.
 
INDUSTRY BACKGROUND
 
  Interactive 3D graphics technology is emerging as one of the most
significant new computing developments since the introduction of the graphical
user interface. The visually engaging and interactive nature of 3D graphics
responds to consumers' demands for a convincing simulation of reality beyond
what is possible with traditional 2D graphics. The fundamental interactive
capability of 3D graphics is expected to make it a natural and compelling
medium for existing and emerging applications for entertainment, Internet,
business and education.
 
  Interactive 3D graphics is required across various computing and
entertainment platforms, such as workstations, specialized arcade systems and
home gaming consoles. However, the mainstream PC market has only recently
begun to transition from traditional 2D graphics to high quality, interactive
3D graphics. Continuing advancements in semiconductor manufacturing have made
available more powerful and affordable microprocessors and 3D graphics
processors, both of which are essential to deliver interactive 3D graphics to
the mainstream PC market. Additionally, the industry has broadly adopted
Microsoft's 3D API, Direct3D, which serves as a common and standard language
between software applications and 3D graphics processors. This has spurred the
development of numerous compelling 3D titles, and subsequently strong consumer
demand.
 
  The Company believes that a PC's interactive 3D graphics capability
represents one of the primary means by which users differentiate among various
systems. PC users today can easily differentiate the quality of graphics and
prefer personal computers that provide a superior visual experience. These
factors have dramatically increased demand for 3D graphics processors. Mercury
Research estimates that 3D graphics will be standard in every PC unit shipped
by 2001. Mercury Research also estimates 8.6 million 3D graphics processors
were sold in 1997 and 180 million will be sold in 2001.
 
  The technology required to create interactive and visually engaging 3D
graphics is algorithmically complex and computationally intensive. To deliver
high quality interactive 3D graphics, advanced 3D graphics processors require
millions of transistors to process billions of arithmetic operations per
second. Current 3D graphics processors are over ten times more complex than 2D
accelerators and comparable to the complexity of the
 
                                      34
<PAGE>
 
Pentium microprocessor. Yet despite recent advances, PC 3D graphics available
today cannot deliver in real time the quality of graphics seen in the film
"Toy Story." Such 3D graphics required over 100 powerful workstations and over
800,000 computer hours to render the film's 114,000 frames, with each frame
requiring an average of seven hours to render. For mainstream PCs to provide
this level of 3D graphics capability, the performance of 3D graphics
processors will need to be improved by several more orders of magnitude. To
approach "real world" graphics performance even beyond that seen in "Toy
Story," graphics processors would require significant further improvement in
performance.
 
  The demanding requirements of high performance 3D graphics present
significant new challenges for semiconductor graphics companies in the
mainstream PC market. Certain suppliers offer 3D graphics solutions that only
address specific niches of the market, such as the gaming or CAD/CAM markets.
These solutions typically have been relatively expensive, in some cases
involving multiple chips on an add-in card, with separate chips for 2D
graphics and 3D graphics processing. Furthermore, these niche 3D solutions
often require content providers to develop to proprietary APIs other than
Microsoft's Direct3D in order to achieve the necessary performance. The higher
product costs and API limitations have made it difficult for such targeted 3D
graphics solutions to achieve widespread acceptance in the mainstream PC
market. On the other end of the spectrum, traditional 2D graphics suppliers
have attempted to leverage their installed base by adding 3D graphics
functionality to their 2D graphics architectures. However, 3D graphics
algorithms and architectures are significantly more complex than those of 2D
graphics, and the traditional 2D graphics suppliers face many challenges to
develop and provide cost-effective high performance 3D graphics.
 
  The Company believes that a substantial market opportunity exists for
providers of high performance 3D graphics products for the mainstream PC
market, particularly as high performance 3D graphics have become an
increasingly important requirement and point of differentiation for PC OEMs.
Consumer PC users demand a compelling visual experience and compatibility with
existing and next-generation 3D graphics applications at an affordable price.
Application developers require high performance, standards-based 3D
architectures with broad market penetration. Since graphics is a key point of
differentiation, PC OEMs continually seek to incorporate leading-edge cost-
effective 3D graphics solutions to build award-winning products. The Company
believes that providers of interactive 3D graphics solutions will compete
based on their ability to leverage their technology expertise to
simultaneously meet the needs of end users, application developers and OEMs.
 
THE NVIDIA SOLUTION
 
  NVIDIA has developed a family of 3D graphics processors and related software
that provides high performance interactive 3D graphics to the mainstream PC
market. The Company's products allow users to enjoy a highly immersive,
interactive 3D experience with compelling visual quality, realistic motion and
complex object and scene interaction at real-time frame rates. By providing
this level of performance at an affordable price to OEMs and end users, the
Company believes that it will accelerate the adoption of interactive 3D
graphics throughout the mainstream PC market. The Company's products are used
by leading PC OEMs, such as Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and Packard
Bell NEC, and leading add-in board manufacturers, such as Diamond and STB. The
RIVA128 graphics processor has received significant industry validation and
has enabled the Company's customers to receive over 80 industry awards.
 
  The key features and benefits of the Company's solution are as follows:
 
  High Performance. The RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors' 128-bit
architecture combined with a proprietary texture cache can process 1.5 million
polygons per second and maintain a fill rate of 100 million texture mapped
pixels per second. This performance is driven by the processing power of a 5
GFLOPS (billions of floating point operations per second) floating point
polygon setup engine and a 15 BOPS (billions of operations per second) integer
pixel processing engine. The RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors also
include an extensive set of reference drivers that translate between the
software API and hardware. The software driver is designed to maximize
performance of the graphics processor and to maintain compatibility with each
successive generation of the Company's products. The software drivers have the
flexibility to be continually
 
                                      35
<PAGE>
 
enhanced in order to further improve the performance of the processors. The
Company believes that the high performance of its graphics processors provides
a competitive advantage to the Company's OEM customers, enabling them to
differentiate their systems from those of other PC vendors.
 
  Standards-Based. The RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX products are architected to take
full advantage of industry standards such as Microsoft's Direct3D. The
standards-compliant design of the Company's graphics processors provides OEMs
maximum flexibility in the design and use of the systems. In particular, the
Company believes that its focus on the Microsoft Direct3D API positions it
well in the mainstream PC market as this standard proliferates and supports
more advanced 3D visuals. Microsoft's Direct3D API has gained broad developer
support, with numerous 3D titles currently using this API.
 
  Integrated Design. The RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors' highly
integrated single-chip design supports high performance interactive 3D
graphics applications while simultaneously optimizing 2D graphics and
providing VGA compatibility and DVD playback. By integrating 2D graphics and
3D graphics on one chip, the Company believes that it has standardized the
platform for developers and provided a graphics solution that is simpler and
lower cost relative to competing solutions, including multi-chip or multi-
board 2D/3D graphics subsystems.
 
  128-bit Architecture. The Company's 128-bit product architecture and leading
technology enable it to provide products with state-of-the-art interactive 3D
graphics performance and superior processing power. With a "fast-and-wide" 100
megahertz, 128-bit graphics architecture, the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics
processors deliver 3D graphics with great detail, smooth shading, high frame
rates and overall stunning effects, while maintaining volume pricing for
multimedia and entertainment applications.
 
STRATEGY
 
  The Company's objective is to be the leading supplier of high performance 3D
graphics processors for PCs. The Company's strategy to achieve this objective
includes the following key elements:
 
  Focus on the Mainstream PC Market. The Company's strategy is to achieve
market leadership in the high volume mainstream PC market by providing award-
winning performance at competitive prices. By developing 3D graphics solutions
that provide superior performance and address the key requirements of the
mainstream PC market, NVIDIA believes that it will accelerate the adoption of
3D graphics throughout the mainstream PC market. As part of its strategy to
address the broadest segment of the PC market, the Company has closely aligned
its product development with Microsoft's Direct3D API, rather than creating
and promoting a proprietary API. The Company believes this alignment with
Direct3D maximizes third-party software support.
 
  Target Leading OEMs. The Company's strategy is to enable its leading OEM
customers to differentiate their products in a highly competitive marketplace
by using NVIDIA's high performance 3D graphics processors. NVIDIA believes
that design wins with these industry leaders provide market validation of its
products, increase brand awareness and enhance the Company's ability to
penetrate additional leading customer accounts. In addition, the Company
believes that close relationships with OEMs will allow the Company to better
anticipate and address customer needs with its future generation of products.
NVIDIA's products currently are designed into products offered by five of the
top ten PC OEMs in the United States--Compaq, Dell, Gateway 2000, Micron and
Packard Bell NEC--and by leading add-in board manufacturers such as Diamond
and STB.
 
  Extend Technological Leadership in 3D Graphics. NVIDIA believes that its
products provide superior interactive 3D graphics to the mainstream PC market.
The Company is focused on leveraging its advanced engineering capabilities to
accelerate the quality and performance of 3D graphics in PCs. A fundamental
aspect of NVIDIA's strategy is to actively recruit the best 3D graphics
engineers in the industry, and NVIDIA believes that it has assembled an
exceptionally experienced and talented engineering team. The Company intends
to leverage this advantage to achieve new levels of graphics features and
performance, enabling customers to achieve award-winning performance in their
products.
 
                                      36
<PAGE>
 
  Increase Market Share by Leveraging Strategic Alliances. The Company
believes that substantial market share will be important to achieving success
in the 3D graphics business. The Company intends to achieve a leading share of
the market by devoting substantial resources towards establishing NVIDIA's
brand and leading product capabilities as the de facto graphics standard for
end users, application developers and OEMs. The Company has leveraged the
RIVA128 graphics processor architecture to achieve broader market penetration
by forming a strategic alliance with ST that gives ST the right to manufacture
products for sale.
 
NVIDIA ARCHITECTURE, PRODUCTS AND PRODUCTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
 
  3D PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY BACKGROUND
  3D graphics processors create two-dimensional images, which can be displayed
on computer monitors or other output devices, from computer specifications of
three-dimensional objects or "models." These two-dimensional images are
typically the perspective view of the objects from an eye-point that changes
with time, and as such are computationally very intensive. The 3D effect
arises from a variety of visual cues, such as perspective, occlusion, surface
shading, shadows, focus and motion. Convincing realism arises from precise
calculation of these and other effects, and these calculations require
dedicated processors, which provide far more power and bandwidth than
microprocessors can deliver.
 
  The 3D graphics process is a series of specialized steps, often referred to
as the 3D graphics pipeline. Typically, the microprocessor chooses an eye-
point and decides which objects should be displayed. These are commonly
communicated to the graphics subsystem via a software interface, such as
Microsoft's Direct3D or SGI's OpenGL. The processing itself occurs in several
steps, as depicted and described below:
 
 
                   GEOMETRY        POLYGON
     MODEL    --  PROCESSING  --    SETUP   --   RASTERIZATION  --  DISPLAY
 
 
    Model. The model typically is expressed as a set of polygons, such as
  triangles, that form the basic shape of a three-dimensional object and
  have attributes such as position and color at each vertex.
 
    Geometry processing. Geometry processing transforms the original
  position and orientation of the polygons to their new position on the
  screen. Based on their position and orientation, some aspects of their
  surface color and lighting can be computed. The 3D visual cues of
  perspective and motion are handled during this stage. These
  calculations require very high floating-point computation power and are
  performed by the host microprocessor.
 
    Polygon setup. Polygon setup calculates the slopes of the polygon
  sides and various other derivatives that greatly accelerate the
  rasterization process. Although early graphics devices performed these
  calculations in the host microprocessor, today's 3D graphics processor
  perform these calculations, permitting significantly higher
  performance.
 
    Rasterization. Rasterization computes the color and other information
  for every pixel (dot on the screen) that a transformed polygon touches.
  A number of complex algorithms compute the color uniquely for each
  pixel, as well as perform the remaining visual cues, such as shading,
  shadows, focus and occlusion. This is the most computationally
  intensive step of the graphics pipeline and the processors are required
  to perform up to 1,000 calculations per pixel, with this number
  increasing rapidly.
 
    Display. Display consists of sequentially reading out the color of
  each pixel at a rate matched to the monitor. Unlike the other stages in
  the 3D graphics pipeline, which are purely digital, the signals to the
  monitor are analog, and the frequencies are far higher.
 
                                      37
<PAGE>
 
  The complexity of the different steps in the 3D graphics pipeline requires
billions of floating-point and integer operations in real time to deliver a
realistic and interactive experience. Image quality determines whether 3D
computer representation looks realistic, and 3D performance determines whether
a 3D system conveys a sense of fluid motion in real time. If the performance
is below a certain threshold, a 3D system can in fact reduce the productivity
or the enjoyment of the user, even if the image quality is high. The challenge
with high quality 3D is to deliver the processing power required to perform
these computations without creating bottlenecks in the 3D graphics pipeline.
 
  NVIDIA PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE
  The RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX graphics processors are highly integrated and
deliver high frame rate 3D graphics, as well as 2D graphics, VGA and video
processing in a single processor. The primary functional units of the RIVA128
and RIVA128ZX graphics processors are the 3D geometry processing unit, the 2D
engine, the 3D pixel processor, the texture cache and the Palette-DAC and
video processor. The following illustrates the primary components of the
RIVA128 graphics processor:
 
                            [GRAPHIC APPEARS HERE]

[Description of illustration: Depiction of RIVA128 3D graphics processor, with
the following functional areas labelled: 3D Geometry Processing Unit, Texture
Cache, Video Port, 2D Engine, 3D Pixel Processor, Palette-DAC and Video
Processor, VGA, Internal Bus, Memory Controller, PCI/AGP Interface.]
 
                       The RIVA128 3D Graphics Processor
 
    3D Geometry Processing Unit. This engine performs the polygon setup
  and lighting calculations and prepares data for pixel processing. This
  5 GFLOPs floating point engine processes up to five million triangles
  per second.
 
    2D Engine. The 2D rendering engine provides high performance for 2D
  applications. The 2D engine is necessary for applications such as those
  used in a business environment where 2D objects are drawn to and moved
  around on the computer monitor. Examples include Windows-based
 
                                      38
<PAGE>
 
  applications such as Microsoft Word, Powerpoint or Excel. The presence
  of high performance 2D graphics is a critical function for 3D graphics
  processors targeted for the mainstream PC market.
 
    3D Pixel Processor. The 3D pixel processor calculates pixel colors
  and other attributes to be rendered to the computer screen. It includes
  advanced rendering capabilities, such as 32-bit RGB Gouraud shading,
  alpha blending, perspective correct per pixel fog and perspective
  correct specular highlights.
 
    Texture Cache. The texture cache provides high performance, local
  texture storage for the pixel processing engine.
 
    Palette-DAC and Video Processor. The Palette-DAC pipeline accelerates
  full-motion video playback, sustaining 30 frames per second while
  retaining high quality color resolution, implementing true bilinear
  filtering for scaled video, and compensating for filtering losses using
  edge enhancement algorithms.
 
  NVIDIA PRODUCTS
 
  RIVA128 Graphics Processor
 
  The RIVA128 graphics processor enables PC OEMs and add-in board
manufacturers to satisfy end-user performance requirements by providing visual
realism and real-time interactivity. The RIVA128 graphics processor
incorporates 3.5 million transistors and operates on 100 MHz clock speed,
enabling it to perform 20 billion operations per second. The RIVA128 graphics
processor breaks through bottlenecks created by the computationally intensive
requirements of 3D graphics by providing superior processing power.
 
  The highly integrated RIVA128 graphics processor delivers high frame rate 3D
graphics, as well as 2D graphics, VGA and video processing in a single
processor. The RIVA128 graphics processor also includes a rich set of
reference drivers and tools that translate between software API and hardware.
These drivers also provide the ability to connect to and process data from
external video devices. The software driver is designed to maximize
performance of the graphics processor and to maintain compatibility with each
successive generation of the Company's products. The software drivers have the
flexibility to be continually enhanced in order to further improve the
performance of the processors. The RIVA128 graphics processor has received
significant industry validation and has enabled the Company's customers to
receive over 80 industry awards. Key features of the RIVA128 graphics
processor include the following:
 
    Standard API Compatibility. The RIVA128 graphics processor supports
  applications written for the two most widely accepted industry standard
  graphics APIs, Microsoft's Direct3D and SGI's OpenGL.
 
    5 GFLOPs Polygon Setup Engine. Polygon setup minimizes the number of
  format conversions and other calculations performed by the host
  microprocessor. The polygon setup engine can operate at a sustained
  rate of 1.5 million triangles per second or a peak rate of five million
  triangles per second.
 
    Full 3D Feature Set. The full 3D feature set includes perspective
  correct texturing, bi-linear filtering, Z-buffer, LOD MIP-mapping,
  lighting and alpha blending.
 
    128-bit Graphics Engine and Memory Interface. The "fast and wide"
  128-bit memory interface provides 1.6 gigabytes per second bandwidth to
  local frame buffer memory, which results in industry-leading
  performance and graphics realism.
 
    230 MHz Integrated RAMDAC. The 230 MHz integrated RAMDAC allows for
  high resolution, high refresh rate output to computer monitors.
 
    NTSC/PAL TV Output. NTSC/PAL television output allows connections to
  television monitors.
 
    Media Port. The media port allows direct input from television
  signals and MPEG2/DVD devices.
 
                                      39
<PAGE>
 
  The RIVA128 graphics processor is produced using a .35 micron manufacturing
process. The Company introduced the RIVA128 graphics processor in April 1997
and began shipping in volume in August 1997.
 
  RIVA128ZX Graphics Processor
 
  The RIVA128ZX graphics processor extends the functionality and performance
of the RIVA128 graphics processor and includes two additional design features,
AGP 2X and an 8MB (megabyte) frame buffer. The AGP 2X, Intel's newest graphics
bus, doubles the available bandwidth between the microprocessor and the
graphics engine. With AGP 2X support, the RIVA128ZX graphics processor is
designed to process more complex 3D computer representations more efficiently.
Doubling the size of the frame buffer to 8MB provides the RIVA128ZX graphics
processor with the ability to support higher resolution displays with more
colors, resulting in a richer real-time experience.
 
  The RIVA128ZX graphics processor is produced using a .35 micron
manufacturing process, began shipping in March 1998 and is scheduled for
volume shipment in the second quarter of 1998.
 
NVIDIA PRODUCTS UNDER DEVELOPMENT
 
  RIVA TNT
 
  The Company announced its second-generation product, the RIVA TNT, in March
1998. The RIVA TNT is currently under development. The Company believes the
RIVA TNT will supplant the RIVA128ZX graphics processor as NVIDIA's
"performance offering" during the second half of 1998. The RIVA TNT will be
designed to include a 16MB frame buffer, two pixels per clock to enable faster
and higher quality rendering, AGP 2X support, greater than 200 million pixel
per second fill rate and 8 million triangle peak set up.
 
 
SALES AND MARKETING
 
  NVIDIA's sales strategy is a key part of its objective to become the leading
supplier of high performance 3D graphics processors for PCs. In order to meet
customer and end-user requirements and achieve design wins, the Company's
sales team works closely with PC OEMs, add-in board manufacturers and industry
trend setters to define product features, performance, price and timing of new
products. Members of the Company's sales team have a high level of technical
expertise and product and industry knowledge to support a competitive and
complex design win process. NVIDIA also employs a highly skilled team of
application engineers to assist PC OEMs and add-in board manufacturers in
designing, testing and qualifying system designs that incorporate NVIDIA
products. The Company believes that the depth and quality of this design
support are key to improving PC OEMs' and add-in board manufacturers' time-to-
market, maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction among PC OEMs and
add-in board manufacturers and fostering relationships that encourage its
customers to use the next-generation of NVIDIA's products.
 
  In the 3D graphics market, the sales process involves influencing leading PC
OEMs' and add-in board manufacturers' graphics processor purchasing decisions,
achieving key design wins and supporting the product design into high volume
production. These design wins in turn influence the retail and system
integrator channel that is serviced by add-in board manufacturers. The
Company's distribution strategy is to work with a relatively small number of
leading add-in board manufacturers that have relationships with a broad range
of major PC OEMs and/or strong brand name recognition in the retail channel.
Currently, the Company sells the RIVA128 graphics processor directly to add-in
board manufacturers, Diamond and STB, which in turn sell boards with the
RIVA128 graphics processor to leading OEMs, such as Compaq, Dell, Gateway
2000, Micron and Packard Bell NEC, to retail outlets, such as BestBuy and
CompUSA, and to a large number of system integrators. Sales to STB and Diamond
accounted for 63% and 31%, respectively, of the Company's total revenue in
1997, and 49% and 39%, respectively, of the Company's total revenue in the
first quarter of 1998.
 
 
                                      40
<PAGE>
 
  The Company also has a strategic collaboration agreement with ST (the "ST
Agreement"), pursuant to which ST manufactures the RIVA128 graphics processor,
sells it to the Company and distributes the RIVA128 graphics processor on the
Company's behalf. ST is entitled under the ST Agreement to sell the RIVA128
and RIVA128ZX graphics processors in consideration for a royalty payment to
the Company. ST also is entitled under this agreement to manufacture the
RIVA128ZX graphics processor. Under the ST Agreement, ST also has a worldwide
license to incorporate the technology underlying the RIVA128 and RIVA128ZX
graphics processors (including the source code and architecture) (the "RIVA
Technology") in its own products, subject to certain limitations on the
modification of such technology, and a right to receive software engineering
and quality assurance support from the Company for the RIVA Technology through
December 31, 1998. The Company believes that its relationship with ST allows
it to realize broad market penetration, increase sales leverage and achieve
greater brand awareness. Royalty revenue received from ST pursuant to the ST
Agreement represented 6% and 12% of the Company's total revenue in 1997 and
the first quarter of 1998, respectively. The Company expects royalty revenue
from ST to decrease in the second quarter of 1998 and subsequent quarters.
 
  The NVIDIA sales effort is accompanied by a variety of product and corporate
marketing activities, including technical support and product launches. As
part of the product launch effort, the Company demonstrates new products to
highlight their capabilities. NVIDIA believes these demonstrations help
position its products favorably relative to products of its competitors. The
Company also maintains close relationships with key industry analysts and
trade press, conducts frequent press tours and participates, with its add-in
board manufacturers and OEM customers, in benchmark tests executed by key
trade publications. In addition, the Company sponsors and participates in
industry tradeshows, marketing communications and market development
activities designed to generate awareness of the Company and its products. The
Company intends to continue to devote significant resources toward
establishing brand recognition, including advertising in key newspapers and
trade magazines and participation in graphics newsgroups and web sites. The
Company also uses its corporate web site to promote the Company and its
products.
 
  To encourage software title developers and publishers to develop games
optimized for platforms utilizing the Company's products, the Company seeks to
establish and maintain strong relationships in the software development
community. Engineering and marketing personnel interact with and visit key
software developers to promote and discuss the Company's products, seeking
product requirements and solving technical problems. The Company's developer
program makes products available to partners prior to volume availability to
encourage the development of software titles that are optimized for the
Company's products.
 
MANUFACTURING
 
  The Company has a "fabless" manufacturing strategy whereby the Company
employs world class suppliers for all phases of the manufacturing process,
including fabrication, assembly and testing. This strategy leverages the
expertise of industry-leading, ISO-certified suppliers in such areas as
fabrication, assembly, quality control and assurance, reliability and testing,
and allows the Company to avoid the significant costs and risks associated
with owning and operating such manufacturing operations. These suppliers also
are responsible for procurement of raw materials used in the production of the
Company's products. As a result, the Company can focus its resources on
product design, quality assurance, marketing and customer support.
 
  The RIVA128 graphics processor is fabricated for the Company by ST, which is
one of the ten largest semiconductor manufacturers in the world. ST currently
produces the semiconductor die for the Company using a .35 micron
Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) process technology. ST then
assembles and packages the semiconductor die, tests the finished product, and
ships the finished product to the Company. ST has fabrication operations
located in Crolles, France and assembly and testing operations located in
Malta. The Company has recently begun using TSMC to manufacture the RIVA128ZX
graphics processor, although it has not yet received volume quantities of any
products from TSMC. The Company recently qualified Anam for assembly and
testing and intends to have volume testing performed by Anam in the future.
The Company currently is seeking an additional source of supply for both
assembly and test.
 
 
                                      41
<PAGE>
 
  The fabrication of semiconductors is a complex process. Contaminants,
defects in masks used to print circuits on wafers, difficulties in the
fabrication process and other factors can cause a substantial percentage of
wafers to be rejected or a significant number of die on each wafer to be
nonfunctional. These problems are difficult to diagnose and time-consuming and
expensive to remedy. As a result, semiconductor companies frequently encounter
difficulties in achieving acceptable product yields. When production of a new
product begins, as with the RIVA128ZX graphics processor, the Company
typically pays for wafers, which may or may not have any functional products.
Accordingly, the Company bears the financial risk until production is
stabilized. Once production is stabilized, the Company pays for functional die
only. Because TSMC has only recently begun to manufacture products for the
Company, until the production yields of its product at TSMC stabilize, the
Company must pay an agreed price for wafers regardless of yield. Failure to
stabilize yields or failure to achieve acceptable yields from any current or
future third-party manufacturer would materially adversely affect the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations. For
example, in December 1997, the Company experienced low manufacturing yields at
ST.
 
  The Company receives semiconductor products from its subcontractors,
performs incoming quality assurance and ships them to its add-in board
manufacturer customers, such as Diamond and STB, from its location in
Sunnyvale. The add-in board manufacturers then produce boards, combine NVIDIA
software with their own software and ship the product to the retail market as
add-in boards or to OEMs, such as Compaq, Dell Gateway 2000, Micron and
Packard Bell NEC, for inclusion in the OEMs' products.
 
  In the event of production difficulties, shortages or delays experienced by
any one of its suppliers, the Company's business, financial condition or
results of operation may be adversely impacted. Furthermore, although quality
assurance measures have been taken, there can be no guarantee against defects
affecting the quality, performance or reliability of the Company's products.
Any such defects could require costly product recalls or cessation of
shipments, adversely affecting the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations, and resulting in a decline of revenues, increased costs
(associated with return, repair, replacement and shrinkage associated with
such defects), cancellations or rescheduling of customer orders and shipments.
See "Risk Factors--Dependence on Third-Party Manufacturers; Absence of
Manufacturing Capacity; Manufacturing Risks," "--Dependence on ST
Microelectronics," "--Manufacturing Yields," "--Transition to New
Manufacturing Process Technologies," "--Dependence on Third-Party
Subcontractors for Assembly and Testing" and "--Risks of Product Defects and
Incompatibilities; Product Liability."
 
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
 
  The Company believes that the continued introduction of new and enhanced
products designed to deliver leading 3D graphics performance will be essential
to its future success. NVIDIA's research and development strategy is to focus
on concurrently developing multiple generations of devices using independent
design teams. The Company's research and development team has enabled NVIDIA
to deliver award-winning products to its OEM customers. The RIVA128 graphics
processor has enabled its customers to win over 80 awards from recognized
industry publications, including PC Magazine, PC Computing, PC World, Computer
Gaming World, PC Games and CNET.
 
  NVIDIA's research and development efforts are performed within specialized
groups consisting of software engineering, hardware engineering, VLSI design
engineering, process engineering, and architecture and algorithms. These
groups act as a pipeline designed to allow the efficient simultaneous
development of new products. The software engineering group is responsible for
the development of drivers for the various software APIs. The hardware
engineering group designs and develops new product hardware. The VLSI design
engineering group maps the Company's design ideas to specific silicon
structures, and the process engineering group determines how these devices
will be fabricated and communicates with the Company's manufacturers. The
architecture and algorithms group is responsible for maintaining and further
developing what the Company believes is an extensible product architecture,
allowing the Company to continually add features to its products without
sacrificing compatibility or incurring significant redesign costs.
 
 
                                      42
<PAGE>
 
  A critical component of the Company's product development effort is its
partnerships with leaders in the CAD industry. The Company has invested
significant resources to develop relationships with industry leaders,
including Avant! Corporation, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and Synopsys, Inc.
The Company believes that by forming these relationships, and utilizing next-
generation development tools to design, simulate and verify its products,
NVIDIA will be able to remain at the forefront of the 3D graphics market and
to continue to develop products on a rapid basis that utilize leading-edge
technology.
 
  The Company has substantially increased its engineering and technical
resources and has 77 full-time employees engaged in research and development.
Expenditures for research and development before adjustments for contract
funding were $2.4 million, $1.2 million and $6.6 million in 1995, 1996 and
1997, respectively.
 
COMPETITION
 
  The market for 3D graphics processors for mainstream PCs in which the
Company competes is intensely competitive and is characterized by rapid
technological change, evolving industry standards and declining average
selling prices. NVIDIA believes that the principal factors of competition in
this market are performance, conformity to industry-standard APIs, software
support, access to customers and distribution channels, manufacturing
capabilities, price of graphics processors and total system costs of add-in
boards. The Company expects competition to increase both from existing
competitors and new market entrants with products that may be less costly than
the Company's 3D graphics processors or may provide better performance or
additional features not provided by the Company's products. There can be no
assurance that the Company will be able to compete successfully in the
emerging mainstream PC graphics market.
 
  NVIDIA's primary source of competition is from companies that provide or
intend to provide 3D graphics solutions for the mainstream PC market. These
include (i) new entrants in the 3D graphics processor market with existing
presence in the PC market, such as Intel, (ii) suppliers of graphics add-in
boards that utilize their internally developed graphics chips, such as ATI and
Matrox, (iii) suppliers of 2D graphics chips that are introducing 3D
functionality as part of their existing solutions, such as S3 and Trident,
(iv) companies that have traditionally focused on the professional market and
provide high end 3D solutions for PCs and workstations, including 3Dlabs,
Real3D and SGI, and (v) companies with strength in the interactive
entertainment market, such as Chromatic, 3Dfx and Rendition.
 
  In March 1998, Intel began shipping the i740, a 3D graphics accelerator that
is targeted at the mainstream PC market. Intel has significantly greater
resources than the Company, and there can be no assurance that the Company's
products will compete effectively against the i740 or any future products
introduced by Intel, that the Company will be able to compete effectively
against Intel or that Intel will not introduce additional products that are
competitive with the Company's products in either performance or price or
both. NVIDIA expects Intel to continue to invest heavily in research and
development and new manufacturing facilities, to maintain its position as the
largest manufacturer of PC microprocessors and one of the largest
manufacturers of motherboards, to increasingly dominate the PC platform and to
promote its product offerings through advertising campaigns designed to
engender brand loyalty among PC users. Intel may in the future develop
graphics add-in cards or graphics-enabled motherboards using its i740 3D
graphics accelerators or other graphics accelerators, which could directly
compete with graphics add-in cards or graphics-enabled motherboards that the
Company's customers may develop. In addition, due to the widespread industry
acceptance of Intel's microprocessor architecture and interface architecture,
including its AGP, Intel exercises significant influence over the PC industry
generally, and any significant modifications by Intel to the AGP, the
microprocessor or other aspects of the PC microprocessor architecture could
result in incompatibility with the Company's technology, which would have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations. In addition, any delay in the public release of
information relating to such modifications could have a material adverse
effect on the Company's business, financial condition or results of
operations.
 
  In April 1998, SGI and Intel announced a strategic relationship, which
includes a broad patent cross-license agreement. The Company believes that
this agreement will provide SGI with access to Intel processors for the
 
                                      43
<PAGE>
 
development of SGI workstations. In addition, the Company believes that under
the cross-license agreement Intel will have access to SGI graphics patents,
which may allow Intel to compete more effectively with the Company. SGI also
may compete directly with the Company as a result of this relationship with
Intel. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to compete
successfully against SGI or Intel. SGI filed a patent infringement lawsuit
against the Company in April 1998. See "--Legal Proceedings".
 
  In addition to Intel, the Company competes with suppliers of graphics add-in
boards that utilize their internally developed graphics chips, such as ATI and
Matrox. NVIDIA also competes with companies that typically have operated in
the PC 2D graphics market and that now offer 3D graphics capability as an
enhancement to their 2D graphics solutions, such as S3 and Trident. Many of
these competitors have introduced 3D graphics functionality on new versions of
existing graphics chips. In addition, the Company's competitors include
companies that traditionally have focused on the production of high-end 3D
graphics systems targeted at the professional market, such as 3Dlabs,
Intergraph, Real3D and SGI. While these companies produce high performance 3D
graphics systems, they historically have done so at a significantly higher
price point than the Company and have focused on the professional and
engineering market. Some of these companies are developing lower cost versions
of their 3D graphics technology to bring workstation-like 3D graphics to
mainstream PCs, and there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to
compete successfully against them. For example, 3Dlabs markets the PERMEDIA 2,
a graphics accelerator designed for the mainstream PC market. NVIDIA also
competes with companies that have recently entered or are expected to enter
the market with an integrated 3D/2D graphics solution, but which have not
traditionally manufactured 2D graphics solutions, such as Chromatic, 3Dfx and
Rendition. In addition to the Company's known competitors, the Company
anticipates that there will be new entrants in the graphics processor market,
and there can be no assurance that the Company will compete effectively
against any such new competitors.
 
  Several of the Company's current and potential competitors have
substantially greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing,
distribution and other resources, greater name recognition and market
presence, broader product lines for the PC market, longer operating histories,
lower cost structures and larger customer bases than the Company. As a result,
they may be able to adapt more quickly to new or emerging technologies and
changes in customer requirements. Regardless of the relative qualities of the
Company's products, the market power, product breadth and customer
relationships of its larger competitors, particularly Intel, can be expected
to provide such competitors with substantial competitive advantages. The
Company does not seek to compete on the basis of price alone, but may be
forced to lower prices to compete effectively. There can be no assurance that
the Company will be able to compete successfully in the emerging mainstream PC
3D graphics market.
 
PATENTS AND PROPRIETARY RIGHTS
 
  The Company relies primarily on a combination of patent, mask-work
protection, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws, employee and third-
party nondisclosure agreements and licensing arrangements to protect its
intellectual property. The Company has 15 issued patents and 25 patent
applications pending in the United States. Such issued patents have expiration
dates from May 2015 to November 2016. The issued patents and pending patent
applications relate to technology developed by the Company in connection with
the development of its 3D graphics processors, including the RIVA128 graphics
processor. The Company has no foreign patents or patent applications. The
Company seeks to file for patents that have broad application in the
semiconductor industry and that would provide a competitive advantage.
However, there can be no assurance that the Company's pending patent
application or any future applications will be approved, that any issued
patents will provide the Company with competitive advantages or will not be
challenged by third parties, or that the patents of others will not have an
adverse effect on the Company's ability to do business. In addition, there can
be no assurance that others will not independently develop substantially
equivalent intellectual property or otherwise gain access to the Company's
trade secrets or intellectual property, or disclose such intellectual property
or trade secrets, or that the Company can effectively protect its intellectual
property. A failure by the Company to meaningfully protect its intellectual
property could have a material adverse effect on the Company's business,
financial condition or results of operations.
 
 
                                      44
<PAGE>
 
  The Company attempts to protect its trade secrets and other proprietary
information through confidentiality agreements with manufacturers and other
partners, proprietary information agreements with employees and consultants
and other security measures. The Company also relies on trademarks and trade
secret laws to protect its intellectual property. Despite these efforts, there
can be no assurance that others will not gain access to the Company's trade
secrets, or that the Company can meaningfully protect its intellectual
property. In addition, effective trade secret protection may be unavailable or
limited in certain foreign countries. Although the Company intends to protect
its rights vigorously, there can be no assurance that such measures will be
successful.
   
  The semiconductor industry is characterized by vigorous protection and
pursuit of intellectual property rights or positions, which has resulted in
significant and often protracted and expensive litigation. The 3D graphics
market in particular has been characterized recently by the aggressive pursuit
of intellectual property positions, and the Company expects its competitors to
continue to pursue aggressive intellectual property positions. In April 1998,
SGI filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company, and in May 1998,
S3 filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the Company. See "--Legal
Proceedings." In addition, the Company from time to time has received notices
alleging that the Company has infringed patents or other intellectual property
rights owned by third parties. ST has certain patent licenses that in some
cases may allow ST to manufacture the Company's products without infringing
third-party patents. As the Company's products are manufactured by TSMC or
other manufacturers, such licenses will no longer benefit the Company and
therefore the risk of a third-party claim of patent infringement against the
Company will increase. In the event infringement claims are made against the
Company, the Company may seek licenses under such patents or other
intellectual property rights. However, there can be no assurance that licenses
will be offered or that the terms of any offered licenses will be acceptable
to the Company. The failure to obtain a license from a third party for
technology used by the Company could cause the Company to incur substantial
liabilities and to suspend the manufacture of products. Furthermore, the
Company may initiate claims or litigation against third parties for
infringement of the Company's proprietary rights or to establish the validity
of the Company's proprietary rights. The Company has agreed to indemnify
certain customers for claims of infringement arising out of sale of the
Company's product. Litigation by or against the Company or such customers
concerning infringement would likely, and the SGI and S3 litigation will,
result in significant expense to the Company and divert the efforts of the
Company's technical and management personnel, whether or not such litigation
results in a favorable determination for the Company. In the event of an
adverse result in the SGI, S3 or other litigation, the Company could be
required to pay substantial damages, (which could include treble damages)
cease the manufacture, use and sale of infringing products, expend significant
resources to develop non-infringing technology, discontinue the use of certain
processes or obtain licenses for the infringing technology. There can be no
assurance that the Company would be successful in such development or that
such licenses would be available on reasonable terms, or at all, and any such
development or license could require expenditures by the Company of
substantial time and other resources. Although patent disputes in the
semiconductor industry have often been settled through cross-licensing
arrangements, there can be no assurance that, in the event that SGI, S3 or any
other third party makes a successful claim against the Company or its
customers, a cross-licensing arrangement could be reached. If such a license
is not made available to the Company on commercially reasonable terms, the
Company's business, financial condition or results of operations could be
materially adversely affected.     
   
  There can be no assurance that infringement claims by third parties or
claims for indemnification by other customers or end users of the Company's
products resulting from infringement claims will not be asserted in the future
or that such possible assertions or the assertions currently raised in the SGI
and S3 litigation, if proven to be true, will not materially adversely affect
the Company's business, financial condition or results of operations. Any
limitations on the Company's ability to market its products, or delays and
costs associated with redesigning its products or payments of license fees to
third parties, or any failure by the Company to develop or license a
substitute technology on commercially reasonable terms, any of which may
result from the SGI or S3 litigation, could have a material adverse effect on
the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.     
 
                                      45
<PAGE>
 
EMPLOYEES
 
  As of March 29, 1998, the Company had 119 employees, 77 of whom were engaged
in engineering and 42 of whom were engaged in sales, marketing, operations and
administrative positions. No employee of the Company is covered by collective
bargaining agreements, and the Company believes that its relationship with its
employees is good.
 
  The Company's ability to operate successfully will depend in significant
part upon the continued service of certain key technical and managerial
personnel, and its continuing ability to attract and retain additional highly
qualified technical and managerial personnel. Competition for such personnel
is intense, and there can be no assurance that the Company can retain such
personnel or that it can attract or retain other highly qualified technical
and managerial personnel in the future, including key sales and marketing
personnel. The loss of key personnel or the inability to hire and retain
qualified personnel could have a material adverse effect on the Company's
business, financial condition or results of operations. See "Risk Factors--
Dependence on Key Personnel."
 
FACILITIES
 
  The Company leases approximately 34,000 square feet in one building in
Sunnyvale, California, pursuant to a lease that expires in August 1998.
Although, the Company believes that it will be able to secure facilities
adequate to meet its needs for the foreseeable future, an inability of the
Company to timely secure adequate facilities on reasonable terms, or an
inability to effectively manage the transition to larger facilities, could
have a material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition
or results of operations.
 
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
   
  On April 9, 1998, the Company was notified that SGI had filed a patent
infringement lawsuit against the Company in the United States District Court
for the District of Delaware. The suit alleges that the sale and use of the
Company's RIVA family of 3D graphics processors infringes a United States
patent held by SGI. The suit seeks unspecified damages (including treble
damages), an order permanently enjoining further alleged infringement and
attorneys' fees. On May 11, 1998, the Company was notified that S3 had filed a
patent infringement lawsuit against the Company in the United States District
Court for the Northern District of California. The suit alleges that the sale
and use of the Company's RIVA family of 3D graphics processors infringes three
United States patents held by S3. The suit seeks unspecified damages
(including treble damages), preliminary and permanent orders enjoining further
alleged infringement and attorneys' fees. The Company has filed answers to
each suit and has filed counterclaims asserting that the patents in each suit
are neither infringed nor valid. Based on its investigation to date, the
Company believes that it has meritorious defenses to the claims brought and
intends to defend itself vigorously with respect to both lawsuits.     
   
  S3 also has filed a motion for preliminary injunction to bar the Company's
manufacture or sale of the RIVA128 products pending a final determination of
the lawsuit. The motion is set to be argued to the court on July 28, 1998, and
is based on one of the three patents asserted by S3. The Company believes that
it has meritorious defenses to the preliminary injunction motion and intends
to defend itself vigorously.     
   
  The Company expects that the litigation with SGI and S3 will likely result
in significant expense to the Company and divert the efforts of the Company's
technical and management personnel, whether or not such litigation results in
a favorable determination for the Company. In the event of an adverse result
in either suit, the Company could be required to do one or more of the
following: pay substantial damages (including treble damages); preliminarily
or permanently cease the manufacture, use and sale of any infringing products;
expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology; or obtain a
license from SGI or S3 for any infringing technology. Either of these suits
could result in limitations on the Company's ability to market its products,
delays and costs associated with redesigning its products or payments of
license fees or other payments to SGI or S3, any of which would have a
material adverse effect on the Company's business, financial condition and
results of operations.     
 
                                      46
<PAGE>
 
                                  MANAGEMENT
 
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS, KEY EMPLOYEES AND DIRECTORS
 
  Certain information regarding the Company's executive officers, key
employees and directors as of March 29, 1998 is set forth below.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
NAME                      AGE POSITION
- ----                      --- --------
<S>                       <C> <C>
Jen-Hsun Huang..........   35 President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Jeffrey D. Fisher.......   39 Vice President, Sales
David B. Kirk...........   37 Chief Scientist
Chris A. Malachowsky....   38 Vice President, Engineering
Lewis R. Paceley........   42 Vice President, Corporate Marketing
Curtis R. Priem.........   38 Chief Technical Officer
Geoffrey G. Ribar.......   39 Chief Financial Officer
Daniel F. Vivoli........   37 Vice President, Product Marketing
Richard J. Whitacre.....   42 Vice President, Operations and Corporate Engineering
Tench Coxe (1)..........   40 Director
Harvey C. Jones, Jr.(1).   45 Director
William J. Miller.......   52 Director
A. Brooke Seawell(2)....   50 Director
Mark A. Stevens(2)......   38 Director
</TABLE>
- --------
(1) Member of the Compensation Committee.
(2) Member of the Audit Committee.
 
  Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded the Company in April 1993 and has served as
President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of
the Company since its inception. From 1985 to 1993, Mr. Huang was employed at
LSI Logic Corporation, a computer chip manufacturer, where he held a variety
of positions, most recently as Director of Coreware business unit responsible
for LSI's "system-on-a-chip" strategy. From 1983 to 1985, Mr. Huang was a
microprocessor designer for Advanced Micro Devices, a semiconductor company.
Mr. Huang holds a B.S.E.E. degree from Oregon State University and an M.S.E.E.
degree from Stanford University.
 
  Jeffrey D. Fisher has been Vice President, Sales for the Company since July
1994. From September 1988 to July 1994, Mr. Fisher held various positions at
Weitek Corporation, a semiconductor technology company, where his last
position was as Director of World Wide Sales. Mr. Fisher holds a B.S.E.E.
degree from Purdue University and an M.B.A. degree from Santa Clara
University.
 
  David B. Kirk has been Chief Scientist for the Company since January 1997.
From June 1996 to January 1997, Dr. Kirk was a software and technical
management consultant. From 1993 to 1996, Dr. Kirk was Chief Scientist, Head
of Technology for Crystal Dynamics, a video game manufacturing company. From
1989 to 1991, Dr. Kirk was an engineer for Apollo Systems Division of Hewlett-
Packard Company. Dr. Kirk has authored seven patents relating to graphics
design and has authored more than 50 articles on graphics technology. Dr. Kirk
holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from
the California Institute of Technology.
   
  Chris A. Malachowsky co-founded the Company in April 1993 and has been Vice
President, Engineering for the Company since that time. From 1987 until April
1993, Mr. Malachowsky was a Senior Staff Engineer for Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
a supplier of enterprise network computing products. From 1980 to 1986, Mr.
Malachowsky was a manufacturing design engineer at Hewlett-Packard Company.
Mr. Malachowsky was a co-inventor of Sun Microsystems' GX graphics
architecture and has authored 39 patents, most of which relate to graphics.
Mr. Malachowsky holds a B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Florida and an
M.S.C.S. degree from Santa Clara University.     
 
                                      47
<PAGE>
 
  Lewis R. Paceley has been Vice President, Corporate Marketing for the
Company since December 1997. From January 1996 until September 1997, Mr.
Paceley was Vice President, Marketing for Cyrix Corporation, a computer
processor manufacturer. From 1982 until December 1995, Mr. Paceley held
various positions at Intel, where his last position was as Marketing Director,
Pentium Pro. Mr. Paceley holds a B.E. degree from Vanderbilt University and an
M.S.E. degree from the University of Michigan.
   
  Curtis R. Priem co-founded the Company in April 1993 and has been Chief
Technical Officer for the Company since that time. From 1986 to January 1993,
Mr. Priem was Senior Staff Engineer at Sun Microsystems where he architected
the GX graphics products, including the world's first single chip GUI
accelerator. From 1984 to 1986, Mr. Priem was a hardware engineer at GenRad,
Inc., a supplier of diagnostic equipment for electronic products. From 1982 to
1984, Mr. Priem was a staff engineer for Vermont Microsystems, Inc., a
personal computer company, where he architected IBM's Professional Graphics
Adapter, the PC industry's first graphics processor. Mr. Priem has authored 70
patents, all of which relate to graphics and I/O. Mr. Priem holds a B.S.E.E.
degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.     
 
  Geoffrey G. Ribar joined the Company as Chief Financial Officer in December
1997. From 1982 to December 1997, Mr. Ribar served in various positions at
AMD, where his last position was Vice President and Corporate Controller. Mr.
Ribar holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry and an M.B.A. degree from the
University of Michigan.
 
  Daniel F. Vivoli has been Vice President, Product Marketing for the Company
since December 1997. From October 1988 to December 1997, Mr. Vivoli held
various positions at Silicon Graphics, Inc., a computing technology company,
including Product Marketing Director, Director of Marketing--Advanced Graphics
Division and --Interactive Systems Division, and finally Vice President of
Marketing. From 1983 to 1988, Mr. Vivoli held various marketing positions at
Hewlett-Packard Company. Mr. Vivoli holds a B.S.E.E. degree from the
University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
 
  Richard J. Whitacre has been Vice President, Operations and Corporate
Engineering for the Company since July 1994. From 1990 to July 1994, Mr.
Whitacre was Director of Engineering and then Vice President of Operations for
SEEQ Technology Incorporated, a semiconductor company. From 1977 to 1990, Mr.
Whitacre held various engineer and management positions at National
Semiconductor Corporation, a semiconductor company. Mr. Whitacre holds a
B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Illinois.
 
  Tench Coxe has been a director of the Company since June 1993. Mr. Coxe is a
general partner of Sutter Hill Ventures, a venture capital investment firm.
Prior to joining Sutter Hill Ventures in 1987, Mr. Coxe was Director of
Marketing and MIS at Digital Communication Associates. Mr. Coxe holds a B.A.
degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. degree from the
Harvard Business School. Mr. Coxe also serves on the Board of Directors of
Avant! Corporation, Edify Corporation and SQL Financials International, Inc.
 
  Harvey C. Jones, Jr. has served as a director of the Company since November
1993. Since December 1987, Mr. Jones has held various positions at Synopsys,
Inc., a developer of electronic design automation products, where he served as
President through December 1992, as Chief Executive Officer until January 1994
and as Chairman of the Board until February 1998. Prior to joining Synopsys,
Mr. Jones served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Daisy Systems
Corporation, an electronic design automation company that Mr. Jones co-founded
in 1981. Mr. Jones currently serves on the Board of Directors of Synopsys and
Remedy Corporation, a client/server applications software company. Mr. Jones
holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from Georgetown
University and an M.S. degree in Management from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
 
  William J. Miller has served as a director of the Company since November
1994. Mr. Miller has been Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of
Avid Technology, Inc., a provider of digital tools for multimedia, since April
1996 and has served as President of Avid Technology since September 1996. From
 
                                      48
<PAGE>
 
March 1992 to October 1995, Mr. Miller served as Chief Executive Officer of
Quantum Corporation, a developer of information storage products. He was a
member of the Board of Directors, and Chairman thereof, from, respectively,
May 1992 and September 1993 to August 1995. From 1981 to March 1992, he served
in various positions at Control Data Corporation, a supplier of computer
hardware, software and services, most recently as Executive Vice President and
President, Information Services. Mr. Miller holds a B.A. and a J.D. degree
from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Miller serves on the Board of Directors
of Innovex, Inc. and Waters Corporation.
 
  A. Brooke Seawell has served as a director of the Company since December
1997. Since January 1997, Mr. Seawell has been Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer for NetDynamics, Inc., an Internet applications server
company. From 1991 to January 1997, Mr. Seawell was Senior Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer of Synopsys. Mr. Seawell holds a B.A. degree in
Economics and an M.B.A. degree in Finance and Accounting from Stanford
University. Mr. Seawell serves on the Board of Directors of several privately
held companies.
 
  Mark A. Stevens has served as a director of the Company since June 1993. Mr.
Stevens has been a general partner of Sequoia Capital, a venture capital
investment firm, since March 1993. Prior to that time, beginning in July 1989,
he was an associate at Sequoia Capital. Prior to joining Sequoia, he held
technical sales and marketing positions at Intel. Mr. Stevens holds a B.S.E.E.
degree, a B.A. degree in Economics and an M.S. degree in Computer Engineering
from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. degree from Harvard
Business School. Mr. Stevens currently serves on the Board of Directors of
Aspect Development, Inc., a client/server applications software company, and
several privately held companies.
 
  The Company's Board of Directors (the "Board") is currently comprised of six
directors. Directors are elected by the stockholders at each annual meeting of
stockholders to serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders or until
their successors are duly elected and qualified. The Company's Certificate of
Incorporation, which will become effective upon the completion of this
offering, provide that the Board will be divided into two classes, Class I and
Class II, with each class serving staggered two-year terms. The Class I
directors, initially Messrs. Coxe, Huang and Jones, will stand for reelection
or election at the 1999 annual meeting of stockholders. The Class II
directors, initially Messrs. Miller, Seawell and Stevens will stand for
reelection or election at the 2000 annual meeting of stockholders.
 
BOARD COMMITTEES
 
  The Board of Directors has an Audit Committee and a Compensation Committee.
The Audit Committee, which currently consists of Messrs. Seawell and Stevens,
reviews the internal accounting procedures of the Company and consults with
and reviews the services provided by the Company's independent auditors. The
Compensation Committee, which currently consists of Messrs. Coxe and Jones,
reviews and recommends to the Board the compensation and benefits of the
Company. The Compensation Committee also administers the issuance of stock
options and other awards under the Company's 1998 Equity Incentive Plan, 1998
Employee Stock Purchase Plan and 1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option
Plan. See "--Employee Benefit Plans."
 
DIRECTOR COMPENSATION
 
  Directors currently do not receive any cash compensation for their services
as members of the Board of Directors, although they are reimbursed for certain
expenses in connection with attendance at Board and Committee meetings. In
July 1996, each of Messrs. Coxe and Stevens were granted an option to purchase
50,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock at an exercise price of $.36 per
share. In November 1993 and August 1996, Mr. Jones was granted options to
purchase 75,000 and 70,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock at exercise
prices of $.05 and $.36 per share, respectively. In November 1994 and June
1996, Mr. Miller was granted options to purchase 75,000 and 50,000 shares of
the Company's Common Stock at exercise prices of $.05 and $.36 per share,
respectively. In December 1997, Mr. Seawell was granted an option to purchase
50,000
 
                                      49
<PAGE>
 
shares of the Company's Common Stock at an exercise price of $3.15 per share.
Non-employee directors also are eligible to participate in the Company's 1998
Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (the "Director's Plan").
 
  On March 30, 1998, each of Messrs. Coxe, Jones, Miller and Stevens was
automatically granted an option to purchase 20,000 shares of the Company's
Common Stock; Mr. Seawell was automatically granted an option to purchase
5,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock; each of Messrs. Coxe and Jones was
automatically granted an option to purchase 2,500 shares of the Company's
Common Stock; and each of Messrs. Miller, Seawell and Stevens was
automatically granted an option to purchase 1,250 shares of the Company's
Common Stock. Each of the foregoing options was granted under the Directors'
Plan at fair market value on the date of grant. See "--Employee Benefit
Plans--1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan."
 
COMPENSATION COMMITTEE INTERLOCKS AND INSIDER PARTICIPATION
 
  Prior to October 1997, the Company did not have a Compensation Committee of
the Board of Directors, and the entire Board participated in all compensation
decisions, except that Mr. Huang did not participate in decisions relating to
his compensation. In October 1997, the Board formed the Company's Compensation
Committee to review and recommend to the Board the compensation and benefits
for the Company's executive officers and administer the Company's stock
purchase and stock option plans. Certain of the Company's directors, or
affiliated entities, have purchased securities of the Company. See "Certain
Transactions" and "Principal Stockholders."
 
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
 
  The following table sets forth the compensation awarded or paid by the
Company during the fiscal year ended December 31, 1997 to (i) the Company's
Chief Executive Officer and (ii) the four other most highly compensated
officers receiving compensation in excess of $100,000 in fiscal 1997
hereinafter (the "Named Executive Officers"):
 
                        SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE(/1/)
 
<TABLE>   
<CAPTION>
                                                                     LONG-TERM
                                                          ANNUAL    COMPENSATION
                                                       COMPENSATION    AWARDS
                                                       ------------ ------------
                                                                     SECURITIES
                                                                     UNDERLYING
             NAME AND PRINCIPAL POSITION                SALARY ($)  OPTIONS (#)
             ---------------------------               ------------ ------------
<S>                                                    <C>          <C>
Jen-Hsun Huang........................................   $149,134           0
 President and Chief Executive Officer
Jeffrey D. Fisher.....................................    202,122      75,000
 Vice President, Sales
Richard J. Whitacre...................................    138,750     175,000
 Vice President, Operations and Corporate Engineering
Chris A. Malachowsky..................................    135,721           0
 Vice President, Engineering
Curtis R. Priem.......................................    133,125           0
 Chief Technical Officer
</TABLE>    
- --------
(1) In accordance with the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission
    (the "Commission"), the compensation described in this table does not
    include medical, group life insurance or other benefits received by the
    Named Executive Officers which are available generally to all salaried
    employees of the Company and certain perquisites and other personal
    benefits received by the Named Executive Officers, which do not exceed the
    lesser of $50,000 or 10% of any such officers salary and bonus disclosed
    in this table.
       
                                      50
<PAGE>
 
OPTION GRANTS IN LAST FISCAL YEAR
 
  The following table sets forth each grant of stock options made during the
fiscal year ended December 31, 1997 to each of the Named Executive Officers:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                          INDIVIDUAL GRANTS
                         ---------------------------------------------------
                                                                                 POTENTIAL
                                                                                REALIZABLE
                                                                                 VALUE AT
                                                                                  ASSUMED
                                                                               ANNUAL RATES
                                                                              OF STOCK PRICE
                         NUMBER OF                                           APPRECIATION FOR
                         SECURITIES PERCENTAGE OF                               OPTION TERM
                         UNDERLYING TOTAL OPTIONS                                 ($)(4)
                          OPTIONS     GRANTED IN   EXERCISE PRICE EXPIRATION ------------------
          NAME           GRANTED(1) FISCAL 1997(2)  ($/SHARE)(3)     DATE       5%       10%
          ----           ---------- -------------- -------------- ---------- --------  --------
<S>                      <C>        <C>            <C>            <C>        <C>       <C>
Jen-Hsun Huang..........        0         --%           $ --           --          --%       --%
Jeffrey D. Fisher.......   50,000        1.0             .36       3/23/07
                           25,000         .5             .36       5/12/07
Richard J. Whitacre.....  175,000        3.6             .36       3/23/07
Chris A. Malachowsky....        0         --              --           --          --        --
Curtis R. Priem.........        0         --              --           --          --        --
</TABLE>
- --------
(1) Options generally vest at a rate of 25% on the first anniversary of the
    vesting commencement date and 6.25% each quarter thereafter and have a
    term of 10 years. Options are immediately exercisable; however, the shares
    purchasable under such options are subject to repurchase by the Company at
    the original exercise price paid per share upon the optionee's cessation
    of service prior to the vesting of such shares.
(2) Based on an aggregate of 4,841,232 shares subject to options granted to
    persons who were employees of the Company in the fiscal year ended
    December 31, 1997, including the Named Executive Officers.
(3) The exercise price per share of each option was equal to the fair market
    value of the Common Stock on the date of grant as determined by the Board
    of Directors.
(4) The potential realizable value is calculated based on the term of the
    option at the time of grant (10 years) and an assumed initial public
    offering price of $      per share. Stock price appreciation of 5% and 10%
    is assumed pursuant to rules promulgated by the Securities and Exchange
    Commission and does not represent the Company's prediction of its stock
    price performance. The potential realizable value is calculated based on
    the deemed value at the date of grant and assumes that the deemed value
    appreciates from the date of grant at the indicated annual rate compounded
    annually for the entire term of the option and that the option is
    exercised at the exercise price and sold on the last day of its term at
    the appreciated price.
 
AGGREGATED OPTION EXERCISES IN LAST FISCAL YEAR AND 1997 YEAR-END OPTION
VALUES
 
  The following table sets forth for each of the Named Executive Officers the
number and value of securities underlying unexercised options held by the
Named Executive Officers at December 31, 1997:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                           SHARES                 NUMBER OF SECURITIES UNDERLYING   VALUE OF UNEXERCISED
                         ACQUIRED ON              UNEXERCISED OPTIONS AT DECEMBER  IN-THE-MONEY OPTIONS AT
                          EXERCISE      VALUE              31, 1997 (#)           DECEMBER 31, 1997 ($)(2)
NAME                         (#)     REALIZED ($)  EXERCISABLE/UNEXERCISABLE(1)   EXERCISABLE/UNEXERCISABLE
- ----                     ----------- ------------ ------------------------------- -------------------------
<S>                      <C>         <C>          <C>                             <C>
Jen-Hsun Huang..........        0       $ --                       --                    $      --
Jeffrey D. Fisher.......        0         0                  135,000/0                    376,650/0
Richard J. Whitacre.....   30,000         0                  205,000/0                    571,950/0
Chris A. Malachowsky....        0         --                       --                           --
Curtis R. Priem.........        0         --                       --                           --
</TABLE>
- --------
(1) Options are immediately exercisable; however, the shares purchasable under
    such options are subject to repurchase by the Company at the original
    exercise price paid per share upon the optionee's cessation of service
    prior to the vesting of such shares.
(2) Based on the difference between the fair market value of the Common Stock
    at December 31, 1997 as determined by the Board of Directors and the
    exercise price.
 
                                      51
<PAGE>
 
EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS
 
  1998 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN
  The Company's 1998 Equity Incentive Plan (the "Incentive Plan") was adopted
in February 1998 and amended in March 1998 and replaces the Company's Equity
Incentive Plan adopted in May 1993 (as amended in March 1995, January 1996 and
December 1997). An aggregate of 15,000,000 shares of Common Stock currently
are authorized for issuance under the Incentive Plan. However, each year on
January 1, starting with January 1, 1999, the aggregate number of shares of
Common Stock that are available for issuance under the Incentive Plan will
automatically be increased to that number of shares of Common Stock that is
equal to 5% of the Company's outstanding shares of Common Stock on such date.
 
  The Incentive Plan provides for the grant of incentive stock options, as
defined under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), to
employees (including officers and employee directors) and nonstatutory stock
options, restricted stock purchase awards and stock bonuses to employees
(including officers and employee directors), directors and consultants of the
Company and its affiliates. The Incentive Plan is administered by the
Compensation Committee, which determines the recipients and types of awards to
be granted, including the exercise price, number of shares subject to the
award and the exercisability thereof.
 
  The terms of options granted under the Incentive Plan may not exceed 10
years. The Compensation Committee determines the exercise price of options
granted under the Incentive Plan. However, the exercise price for an incentive
stock option cannot be less than 100% of the fair market value of the Common
Stock on the date of the option grant, and the exercise price for a
nonstatutory stock option cannot be less than 85% of the fair market value of
the Common Stock on the date of the option grant. Options granted under the
Incentive Plan vest at the rate specified in the option agreement. Generally,
the optionee may not transfer a stock option other than by will or the laws of
descent or distribution. However, an optionee may designate a beneficiary who
may exercise the option following the optionee's death. An optionee whose
service relationship with the Company or any affiliate ceases for any reason
may exercise vested options for the term provided in the option agreement.
 
  No incentive stock option (and prior to the Company's stock being publicly
traded, no nonstatutory stock option) may be granted to any person who, at the
time of the grant, owns (or is deemed to own) stock possessing more than 10%
of the total combined voting power of the Company or any affiliate of the
Company, unless the option exercise price is at least 110% of the fair market
value of the stock subject to the option on the date of grant and the term of
the option does not exceed five years from the date of grant. In addition, the
aggregate fair market value, determined at the time of grant, of the shares of
Common Stock with respect to which incentive stock options are exercisable for
the first time by an optionee during any calendar year (under the Incentive
Plan and all other stock plans of the Company and its affiliates) may not
exceed $100,000.
 
  When the Company becomes subject to Section 162(m) of the Code (which denies
a deduction to publicly held corporations for certain compensation paid to
specified employees in a taxable year to the extent that the compensation
exceeds $1,000,000), no person may be granted options under the Incentive Plan
covering more than 1,000,000 shares of Common Stock in any calendar year.
 
  Shares subject to stock awards that have expired or otherwise terminated
without having been exercised in full again become available for the grant of
awards under the Incentive Plan. The Compensation Committee has the authority
to reprice outstanding options or to offer optionees the opportunity to
replace outstanding options with new options for the same or a different
number of shares. Both the original and new options will count toward the Code
Section 162(m) limitation set forth above.
 
  Restricted stock purchase awards granted under the Incentive Plan may be
granted pursuant to a repurchase option in favor of the Company in accordance
with a vesting schedule and at a price determined by the Compensation
Committee. Stock bonuses may be awarded in consideration of past services
without a purchase payment. Rights under a stock bonus or restricted stock
bonus agreement generally may not be transferred other
 
                                      52
<PAGE>
 
than by will or the laws of descent and distribution during such period as the
stock awarded pursuant to such an agreement remains subject to the agreement.
 
  If there is any sale of substantially all of the Company's assets, any
merger or any consolidation in which the Company is not the surviving
corporation, all outstanding awards under the Incentive Plan either will be
assumed or substituted for by any surviving entity. If the surviving entity
determines not to assume or substitute for such awards, the time during which
awards held by persons still serving the Company or an affiliate may be
exercised will be accelerated and the awards terminated if not exercised prior
to the sale of assets, merger or consolidation.
 
  As of March 29, 1998, 4,682,110 shares of Common Stock had been issued upon
the exercise of options granted under the Incentive Plan, options to purchase
5,996,833 shares of Common Stock were outstanding and 3,911,457 shares
remained available for future grant. The Incentive Plan will terminate in
February 2008 unless terminated by the Board before then. As of March 29,
1998, stock awards or restricted stock covering 647,932 shares of the
Company's Common Stock had been granted under the Incentive Plan. Of such
shares, 238,332 shares have been repurchased by the Company and returned to
the Incentive Plan.
 
  1998 NON-EMPLOYEE DIRECTORS' STOCK OPTION PLAN
  The Directors' Plan was adopted in February 1998 and amended in March 1998
and provides for the automatic grant of options to purchase shares of Common
Stock to non-employee directors of the Company who are not employees of or
consultants to the Company or an affiliate of the Company (a "Non-Employee
Director"). The Compensation Committee administers the Directors' Plan. The
aggregate number of shares of Common Stock that may be issued pursuant to
options granted under the Directors' Plan is 300,000 shares.
 
  Pursuant to the terms of the Directors' Plan, after the effective date of
the initial public offering of the Company's Common Stock, each person who is
elected or appointed for the first time to be a Non-Employee Director
automatically shall, upon the date of his or her initial election or
appointment to be a Non-Employee Director by the Board or stockholders of the
Company, be granted an option to purchase Fifty Thousand (50,000) shares of
Common Stock (an "Initial Grant").
 
  On March 30, 1998 and on the day following each Annual Meeting of
Stockholders of the Company ("Annual Meeting"), commencing with the Annual
Meeting in 1999, each person who is then a Non-Employee Director automatically
shall be granted one or more options to purchase shares of Common Stock as
follows: (i) Each Non-Employee Director shall be granted an option to purchase
Twenty Thousand (20,000) shares of Common Stock of the Company (an "Annual
Grant"); provided, however, that if the person has not been serving as a Non-
Employee Director for the entire period since the prior Annual Meeting (or
since March 30, 1997 for the grant on March 30, 1998), then the number of
shares granted shall be reduced pro rata for each full quarter prior to the
date of grant during which such person did not serve as a Non-Employee
Director; and (ii) each Non-Employee Director who is a member of a committee
of the Board shall be granted an option to purchase Five Thousand (5,000)
shares of Common Stock of the Company for each such committee (a "Committee
Grant"); provided, however, that if the person has not been serving on such
committee since the prior Annual Meeting (or since March 30, 1997 for the
grant on March 30, 1998), then the number of shares granted shall be reduced
pro rata for each full quarter prior to the date of grant during which such
person did not serve as a Non-Employee Director.
 
  Initial Grants will vest monthly over the four-year period following the
date of grant such that the entire Initial Grant shall become exercisable on
the fourth anniversary of the date of grant. With respect to Annual Grants and
Committee Grants, if the optionee has attended at least 75% of the regularly
scheduled meetings of the Board or the committee, as applicable, held between
the date of grant of the option and the one-year anniversary of the date of
grant of the option, then such option shall vest and become exercisable in
full on the one-year anniversary of the date of grant. If the optionee's
service as a director or committee member, as the case may be, terminates
between the date of grant of the option and the one-year anniversary of the
date of grant
 
                                      53
<PAGE>
 
of the option due to the disability or death of the optionee, then the option
shall immediately vest and become exercisable on a monthly pro rata basis. If
the director fails to attend at least 75% of the regularly scheduled meetings
of the Board or the committee, as applicable, then such optionee's option
shall vest annually over the four-year period following the date of grant at
the rate of 10% per year for the first three years and 70% for the fourth
year, such that the entire option shall become exercisable on the four-year
anniversary of the date of grant of the option.
 
  The exercise price of the options granted under the Directors' Plan will be
equal to the fair market value of the Common Stock on the date of grant. No
option granted under the Directors' Plan may be exercised after the expiration
of ten years from the date it was granted. Options granted under the
Directors' Plan generally are non-transferable except to family members, a
family trust, a family partnership or a family limited liability company.
However, an optionee may designate a beneficiary who may exercise the option
following the optionee's death. An optionee whose service relationship with
the Company or any affiliate (whether as a Non-Employee Director of the
Company or subsequently as an employee, director or consultant of either the
Company or an affiliate) ceases for any reason may exercise vested options for
the term provided in the option agreement (12 months generally, 18 months in
the event of death).
 
  If there is any sale of substantially all of the Company's assets, any
merger or any consolidation in which the Company is not the surviving
corporation or other change in control of the Company, all outstanding awards
under the Directors' Plan either will be assumed or substituted for by any
surviving entity. If the surviving entity determines not to assume or
substitute for such awards, the awards shall terminate if not exercised prior
to such sale of assets, merger or consolidation.
 
  As of March 31, 1998, options to purchase 93,750 shares of Common Stock were
outstanding and 206,250 shares remained available for future grant under the
Directors' Plan. Unless terminated sooner, the Directors' Plan will terminate
in February 2008.
 
  EMPLOYEE STOCK PURCHASE PLAN
  In February 1998, the Board approved the Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the
"Purchase Plan"), covering an aggregate of 500,000 shares of Common Stock. The
Purchase Plan is intended to qualify as an "employee stock purchase plan"
within the meaning of Section 423 of the Code. Under the Purchase Plan, the
Board may authorize participation by eligible employees, including officers,
in periodic offerings following the adoption of the Purchase Plan. The
offering period for any offering will be no longer than 27 months.
 
  Employees are eligible to participate if they are employed by the Company or
an affiliate of the Company designated by the Board. Employees who participate
in an offering generally can have up to 10% of their earnings withheld
pursuant to the Purchase Plan and applied, on specified dates determined by
the Board, to the purchase of shares of Common Stock. The Board may increase
this percentage in its discretion, up to 15%. The price of Common Stock
purchased under the Purchase Plan will be equal to 85% of the lower of the
fair market value of the Common Stock on the commencement date of each
offering period or the relevant purchase date. Employees may end their
participation in the offering at any time during the offering period, and
participation ends automatically on termination of employment with the
Company.
 
  In the event of certain changes of control, the Board has discretion to
provide that each right to purchase Common Stock will be assumed or an
equivalent right substituted by the successor corporation, or the Board may
shorten the offering period and provide for all sums collected by payroll
deductions to be applied to purchase stock immediately prior to the change in
control. The Purchase Plan will terminate at the Board's direction or when all
of the shares reserved for issuance under the Purchase Plan have been issued.
 
  401(k) PLAN
  The Company maintains the NVIDIA Corporation 401(k) Retirement Plan (the
"401(k) Plan") for eligible employees ("Participants"). A Participant may
contribute up to 20% of his or her total annual compensation to
 
                                      54
<PAGE>
 
the 401(k) Plan, up to a statutorily prescribed annual limit. The annual limit
for 1998 is $10,000. Each Participant is fully vested in his or her deferred
salary contributions. Participant contributions are held and invested by the
401(k) Plan's trustee. The Company may make discretionary contributions as a
percentage of Participant contributions, subject to established limits. To
date, the Company has made no contributions to the 401(k) Plan on behalf of
the Participants. The 401(k) Plan is intended to qualify under Section 401 of
the Code, so that contributions by employees or by the Company to the 401(k)
Plan, and income earned on the 401(k) Plan contributions, are not taxable to
employees until withdrawn from the 401(k) Plan, and so that contributions by
the Company, if any, will be deductible by the Company when made.
 
                                      55
<PAGE>
 
                             CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS
 
  In August 1997, Harvey C. Jones, Jr., a director of the Company, purchased
24,334 shares of the Company's Series D Preferred Stock for an aggregate
purchase price of $127,997. The Company sold these securities pursuant to a
preferred stock purchase agreement and an investors' rights agreement on
substantially the same terms as the other investors of Series D Preferred
Stock, including registration rights, information rights and a right of first
refusal, among other provisions standard in venture capital financings.
 
  Pursuant to an agreement between the Company and certain stockholders of the
Company, in August 1997, the Company granted certain rights with respect to
the registration of shares held by Messrs. Coxe, Jones and Miller, each of
whom is a director of the Company, and shares held by and Sequoia Capital VI
and its related entities and Sutter Hill Ventures and its related entities,
both of which are holders of more than 5% of the Company's Common Stock. Mr.
Stevens, a director of the Company, is a general partner of Sequoia Capital,
and Mr. Coxe is a general partner of Sutter Hill Ventures. See "Description of
Capital Stock--Registration Rights."
 
INDEMNIFICATION AND LIMITATION OF DIRECTOR AND OFFICER LIABILITY
 
  In February 1998, the Board authorized the Company to enter into indemnity
agreements with each of the Company's directors and executive officers. The
form of indemnity agreement provides that the Company will indemnify against
any and all expenses of the director or executive officer who incurred such
expenses because of his or her status as a director or executive officer, to
the fullest extent permitted by the Company's Bylaws and Delaware law.
 
  The Company's Certificate of Incorporation (the "Certificate") and Bylaws
contain certain provisions relating to the limitation of liability and
indemnification of directors and officers. The Certificate provides that
directors of the Company shall not be personally liable to the Company or its
stockholders for monetary damages for any breach of fiduciary duty as a
director, except for liability (i) for any breach of the directors' duty of
loyalty to the Company or its stockholders, (ii) for acts or omissions not in
good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of
law, (iii) in respect of certain unlawful payments of dividends or unlawful
stock repurchases or redemptions as provided in Section 174 of the Delaware
General Corporation Law, or (iv) for any transaction from which the director
derives any improper personal benefit. The Certificate also provides that if
the Delaware General Corporation Law is amended after the approval by the
Company's stockholders of the Certificate to authorize corporate action
further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the
liability of the Company's directors shall be eliminated or limited to the
fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law. The
foregoing provisions of the Certificate are not intended to limit the
liability of directors or officers for any violation of applicable federal
securities laws. In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware
General Corporation Law, the Bylaws of the Company provide that (i) the
Company is required to indemnify its directors and executive officers to the
fullest extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, (ii) the
Company may, in its discretion, indemnify other officers, employees and agents
as set forth in the Delaware General Corporation Law, (iii) to the fullest
extent permitted by the Delaware General Corporation Law, the Company is
required to advance all expenses incurred by its directors and executive
officers in connection with a legal proceeding (subject to certain
exceptions), (iv) the rights conferred in the Bylaws are not exclusive, (v)
the Company is authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with its
directors, officers, employees and agents and (vi) the Company may not
retroactively amend the Bylaws provisions relating to indemnity.
 
                                      56
<PAGE>
 
                            PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS
 
  The following table sets forth certain information with respect to the
beneficial ownership of the Company's Common Stock as of March 29, 1998, and
as adjusted to reflect the sale of the shares of Common Stock offered hereby
by (i) each of the Company's Named Executive Officers, (ii) each of the
Company's directors, (iii) each holder of more than 5% of the Company's Common
Stock and (iv) all current directors and executive officers as a group.
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                    PERCENTAGE OF SHARES
                                                    BENEFICIALLY OWNED(1)
                                          SHARES    ------------------------
                                       BENEFICIALLY  PRIOR TO       AFTER
BENEFICIAL OWNERS                        OWNED(1)    OFFERING      OFFERING
- -----------------                      ------------ ----------    ----------
<S>                                    <C>          <C>           <C>
Entities associated with Sequoia
 Capital VI(2)........................   3,095,902          13.2%             %
  3000 Sand Hill Road
  Suite 280, Building 4
  Menlo Park, California 94025
Jen-Hsun Huang(3)(4)..................   3,000,000          12.8
Chris A. Malachowsky(3)(5)............   3,000,000          12.8
Curtis R. Priem(3)....................   3,000,000          12.8
Entities associated with Sutter Hill
 Ventures(6)(9).......................   2,786,090          11.9
  755 Page Mill Road, Suite A-200
  Palo Alto, California 94304
Jeffrey D. Fisher(7)..................     360,200           1.5
Richard J. Whitacre(8)................     387,800           1.6
Tench Coxe(6)(9)......................   2,786,090          12.1
Harvey C. Jones, Jr.(10)..............     269,334           1.1
William J. Miller(11).................     181,844             *
A. Brooke Seawell.....................         --              *
Mark A. Stevens(2)(12)................   3,145,902          13.4
All directors and executive officers
 as a group(10 persons)(13)...........  16,131,170          68.0
</TABLE>
- --------
*Less than 1%.
 (1) Percentage of beneficial ownership is based on 23,468,797 shares of
     Common Stock outstanding on an as-converted basis as of March 29, 1998
     and on       shares of Common Stock outstanding after the completion of
     this offering. Shares of Common Stock subject to options currently
     exercisable or exercisable within 60 days of March 29, 1998 are deemed
     outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of the
     person holding such options but are not deemed outstanding for computing
     the percentage ownership of any other person. Unless otherwise indicated
     below, the persons and entities named in the table have sole voting and
     sole investment power with respect to all shares beneficially owned,
     subject to community property laws where applicable.
 (2) Includes (i) 2,566,589 shares held by Sequoia Capital VI, (ii) 258,947
     shares held by Sequoia Capital Growth Fund, (iii) 141,021 shares held by
     Sequoia Technology Partners VI, (iv) 81,237 shares held by Sequoia XXIII,
     (v) 27,778 shares held by Sequoia XXIV, (vi) 16,528 shares held by
     Sequoia Technology Partners III, (vii) 2,433 shares held by SQP 1997 and
     (viii) 1,369 shares held by Sequoia 1997. Mr. Stevens, a director of the
     Company, is a general partner of Sequoia Capital VI and a general partner
     of Sequoia Technology Partners VI, and therefore may be deemed to
     beneficially own the shares currently owned by such entities. Mr. Stevens
     disclaims beneficial ownership of the shares held by such entities,
     except to the extent of his pecuniary interest therein.
 
                                      57
<PAGE>
 
 (3) The address for Messrs. Huang, Malachowsky and Priem is: c/o NVIDIA
     Corporation, 1226 Tiros Way, Sunnyvale, California 94086.
 (4) Includes 2,308,900 shares held by The Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang Living
     Trust dated May 1, 1995, of which Mr. Huang is the trustee and 250,600
     shares held by J. and L. Huang Investments, L.P., of which Mr. Huang and
     his wife are general partners. Also includes 220,000 shares held by Karen
     Mills Gambee, as Trustee of The Jen-Hsun Huang and Lori Lynn Huang 1995
     Irrevocable Children's Trust and 220,500 shares held by various family
     members, as to which Mr. Huang does not have voting or dispositive power
     or beneficial ownership thereof.
 (5) Includes 2,052,000 shares held by The Chris and Melody Malachowsky Living
     Trust dated October 20, 1994, of which Mr. Malachowsky is the trustee and
     238,500 shares held by Malachowsky Investments L.P., of which Mr.
     Malachowsky and his wife are general partners. Also includes 660,000
     shares held by John M. Scott, as Trustee of The Chris Malachowsky and
     Melody Malachowsky 1994 Irrevocable Trust and 49,500 shares held by
     various family members, as to which Mr. Malachowsky does not have voting
     or dispositive power thereof.
 (6) Includes 1,813,275 shares held by Sutter Hill Ventures, a California
     Limited Partnership ("Sutter Hill"). Mr. Coxe, a director of the Company,
     shares voting and investing power with four other managing directors of
     Sutter Hill Ventures LLC, the general partner of Sutter Hill. Includes
     972,815 shares held of record by the five managing directors of Sutter
     Hill Ventures LLC and their related family entities. Mr. Coxe disclaims
     beneficial ownership of the shares held by the other persons and entities
     associated with Sutter Hill, except to the extent of his pecuniary
     interest therein.
 (7) Includes 225,200 shares subject to a right of repurchase that expires
     ratably through July 1998. Includes 135,000 shares of Common Stock
     issuable upon the early exercise of options vesting through May 2001.
 (8) Includes 152,800 and 30,000 shares subject to rights of repurchase that
     expire ratably through July 1998 and August 2000, respectively. Includes
     205,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the early exercise of
     options vesting through May 2001.
 (9) Includes 50,000 shares subject to a right of repurchase that expires
     ratably through July 2000.
(10) Includes 70,000 shares subject to a right of repurchase that expires
     ratably through August 2000.
(11) Includes 75,000 and 50,000 shares subject to rights of repurchase that
     expire ratably through November 1998 and June 2000, respectively.
(12) Includes 50,000 shares subject to a right of repurchase that expires
     ratably through July 2000.
(13) Includes 340,000 shares issuable upon exercise of options held by all
     directors and executive officers within 60 days of March 29, 1998. See
     footnotes (7) and (8).
 
                                      58
<PAGE>
 
                         DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK
 
  Upon the closing of this offering, the authorized capital stock of the
Company will consist of 200,000,000 shares of Common Stock, par value $.001
per share, and 2,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock, par value $.001 per share
("Preferred Stock").
 
COMMON STOCK
 
  As of March 29, 1998, there were 23,468,797 shares of Common Stock
(including shares of Preferred Stock that will be converted into Common Stock
upon completion of this offering) outstanding held of record by 196
stockholders.
 
  The holders of Common Stock are entitled to one vote for each share held of
record on all matters submitted to a vote of the stockholders. Subject to
preferences that may be applicable to any outstanding shares of the Preferred
Stock, the holders of Common Stock are entitled to receive ratably such
dividends as may be declared by the Board of Directors out of funds legally
available therefor. See "Dividend Policy." In the event of a liquidation,
dissolution, or winding up of the Company, holders of the Common Stock are
entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining after payment of liabilities
and the liquidation preferences of any outstanding shares of Preferred Stock.
Holders of Common Stock have no preemptive rights and no right to convert
their Common Stock into any other securities. There are no redemption or
sinking fund provisions applicable to the Common Stock. All outstanding shares
of Common Stock are, and all shares of Common Stock to be outstanding upon the
completion of this offering will be, fully paid and non-assessable.
 
PREFERRED STOCK
 
  Pursuant to the Restated Certificate the Board of Directors has the
authority, without further action by the stockholders, to issue up to
2,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock in one or more series and to fix the
designations, powers, preferences, privileges, and relative participating,
optional, or special rights and the qualifications, limitations, or
restrictions thereof, including dividend rights, conversion rights, voting
rights, terms of redemption and liquidation preferences, any or all of which
may be greater than the rights of the Common Stock. The Board of Directors,
without stockholder approval, can issue Preferred Stock with voting,
conversion, or other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and
other rights of the holders of Common Stock. Preferred Stock could thus be
issued quickly with terms calculated to delay or prevent a change in control
of the Company or make removal of management more difficult. Additionally, the
issuance of Preferred Stock may have the effect of decreasing the market price
of the Common Stock, and may adversely affect the voting and other rights of
the holders of Common Stock. Upon the completion of this offering, there will
be no shares of Preferred Stock outstanding and the Company has no current
plans to issue any of the authorized Preferred Stock.
 
REGISTRATION RIGHTS
 
  Pursuant to an agreement between the Company and the holders (or their
permitted transferees) ("Holders") of approximately 9,327,087 shares of Common
Stock (assuming the conversion of all outstanding Preferred Stock upon the
completion of this offering) and warrants to purchase 29,706 shares of Common
Stock, the Holders are entitled to certain rights with respect to the
registration of such shares under the Securities Act. If the Company proposes
to register its Common Stock, subject to certain exceptions, under the
Securities Act, the Holders are entitled to notice of the registration and are
entitled at the Company's expense to include such shares therein, provided
that the managing underwriters have the right to limit the number of such
shares included in the registration. The registration rights with respect to
this offering have been waived. In addition, certain of the Holders may
require the Company, at its expense, on no more than one occasion, to file a
registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to their shares
of Common Stock. Such rights may not be exercised until 60 days after the
completion of this offering. Further, certain Holders may require the Company,
once every 12 months and, on no more than two occasions, at the Company's
expense to register the
 
                                      59
<PAGE>
 
shares on Form S-3 when such form becomes available to the Company, subject to
certain conditions and limitations. Such right expires on the fifth
anniversary of completion of this offering.
 
ANTI-TAKEOVER EFFECTS OF PROVISIONS OF CHARTER DOCUMENTS AND DELAWARE LAW
 
  CHARTER DOCUMENTS
  The Company's Certificate of Incorporation (the "Certificate") and Bylaws
include a number of provisions that may have the effect of deterring hostile
takeovers or delaying or preventing changes in control or management of the
Company. First, the Certificate provides that all stockholder action must be
effected at a duly called meeting of holders and not by a consent in writing.
Second, the Bylaws provide that special meetings of the holders may be called
only by (i) the Chairman of the Board of Directors, (ii) the Chief Executive
Officer, or (iii) the Board of Directors pursuant to a resolution adopted by
the Board of Directors. Third, the Certificate and the Bylaws provide for a
classified Board of Directors. The Certificate includes a provision requiring
cumulative voting for directors only if required by applicable California law.
Under cumulative voting, a minority stockholder holding a sufficient
percentage of a class of shares may be able to ensure the election of one or
more directors. As a result of the provisions of the Certificate and
applicable California and Delaware law, at any annual meeting whereby the
Company had at least 800 stockholders as of the end of the fiscal year prior
to the record date for such annual meeting, stockholders will not be able to
cumulate votes for directors. Finally, the Bylaws establish procedures,
including advance notice procedures with regard to the nomination of
candidates for election as directors and stockholder proposals. These
provisions of the Certificate and Bylaws could discourage potential
acquisition proposals and could delay or prevent a change in control or
management of the Company. Such provisions also may have the effect of
preventing changes in the management of the Company. See "Risk Factors--
Effects of Certain Charter and Bylaw Provisions" and "Management."
 
  DELAWARE TAKEOVER STATUTE
  The Company is subject to the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware
General Corporation Law ("Section 203"). In general, Section 203 prohibits a
publicly held Delaware corporation, such as the Company shall become upon the
completion of this offering from engaging in a "business combination" with a
person characterized as an "interested stockholder" for a period of three
years after the date of the transaction pursuant to which such person became
an interested stockholder, unless the business combination is approved in a
manner prescribed by Delaware law. For purposes of Section 203, a business
combination includes a merger, asset sale or other transaction resulting in a
financial benefit to the interested stockholder, and an "interested
stockholder" is a person who, together with affiliates and associates, owns
(or within three years prior, did own) 15% or more of the Company's voting
stock.
 
TRANSFER AGENT AND REGISTRAR
 
  ChaseMellon Shareholder Services, L.L.C. has been appointed as the transfer
agent and registrar for the Company's Common Stock.
 
                                      60
<PAGE>
 
                        SHARES ELIGIBLE FOR FUTURE SALE
 
  Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the Common Stock
of the Company. Future sales of substantial amounts of Common Stock in the
public market could adversely affect prevailing market prices from time to
time. Furthermore, since only a limited number of shares will be available for
sale following this offering as a result of certain contractual and legal
restrictions on resale (as described below), sales of substantial amounts of
Common Stock of the Company in the public market after these restrictions
lapse could adversely affect the prevailing market price and the ability of
the Company to raise equity capital in the future.
 
  Upon the completion of this offering, the Company will have outstanding an
aggregate of      shares of Common Stock, assuming no exercise of the
Underwriters' over-allotment option and no exercise of outstanding options and
warrants. Of these shares, all of the shares sold in this offering will be
freely tradable without restrictions or further registration under the
Securities Act, unless such shares are purchased by "affiliates" of the
Company as that term is defined in Rule 144 under the Securities Act (the
"Affiliates"). The remaining 23,468,797 shares of Common Stock held by
existing stockholders are "restricted securities" as that term is defined in
Rule 144 under the Securities Act ("Restricted Shares"). Restricted Shares may
be sold in the public market only if registered or if they qualify for an
exemption from registration pursuant to Rules 144, 144(k) or 701 promulgated
under the Securities Act, which are summarized below. All officers and
directors and certain stockholders holding an aggregate of 23,352,560 shares
of the Company's Common Stock have agreed, subject to certain exceptions, not
to offer, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to
purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or
warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly of
indirectly (or enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to
another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership
of), any shares of Common Stock or any securities convertible into or
exercisable or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock, for a period of 180
days after the date of this Prospectus, without the prior written consent of
Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated. Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated may in
its sole discretion choose to release a certain number of these shares from
such restrictions prior to the expiration of such 180-day period.
Approximately 5,000,000 shares of Common Stock of the Company (less shares
available for sale within 90 days following the date of this Prospectus),
which does not include any shares held by officers and directors, will be
released from such contractual restrictions following 90 days after the date
of this Prospectus. As a result of such contractual restrictions and the
provisions of Rule 144 and 701, the Restricted Shares will be available for
sale in the public market as follows: (i) 47,500 shares will be eligible for
immediate sale on the date of this Prospectus; (ii) 4,952,500 shares will be
eligible for sale 90 days after the date of this Prospectus; (iii) 17,365,771
shares will be eligible for sale upon expiration of lock-up agreements 180
days after the date of this Prospectus and (iv) the remaining shares will be
eligible for sale from time to time thereafter upon expiration of the
Company's right to repurchase such shares .
 
   In general, under Rule 144 as currently in effect, beginning 90 days after
the date of this Prospectus, a person (or persons whose shares are aggregated)
who has beneficially owned Restricted Shares for at least one year (including
the holding period of any prior owner except an Affiliate) would be entitled
to sell within any three-month period a number of shares that does not exceed
the greater of: (i) 1% of the number of shares of Common Stock then
outstanding (which will equal approximately      shares immediately after this
offering); or (ii) the average weekly trading volume of the Common Stock on
the Nasdaq National Market during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing
of a notice on Form 144 with respect to such sale. Sales under Rule 144 are
also subject to certain manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and
to the availability of current public information about the Company. Under
Rule 144(k), a person who is not deemed to have been an Affiliate of the
Company at any time during the 90 days preceding a sale, and who has
beneficially owned the shares proposed to be sold for at least two years
(including the holding period of any prior owner except an Affiliate), is
entitled to sell such shares without complying with the manner of sale, public
information, volume limitation or notice provisions of Rule 144; therefore,
unless otherwise contractually restricted, shares which qualify as "144(k)
shares" on the date of this Prospectus may be sold immediately upon the
completion of this offering. Subject to certain limitations on the aggregate
offering price of a transaction and other conditions, employees, directors,
officers, consultants or advisors may rely on Rule 701 with respect to the
resale of securities originally
 
                                      61
<PAGE>
 
purchased from the Company prior to the date the issuer becomes subject to the
reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"), pursuant to written compensatory benefit plans or written
contracts relating to the compensation of such persons. In addition, the
Securities and Exchange Commission has indicated that Rule 701 will apply to
typical stock options granted by an issuer before it becomes subject to the
reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, along with the shares acquired
upon exercise of such options (including exercises after the date of this
Prospectus). Securities issued in reliance on Rule 701 are restricted
securities and, subject to the contractual restrictions described above,
beginning 90 days after the date of this Prospectus, may be sold by persons
other than Affiliates subject only to the manner of sale provisions of Rule
144, and by Affiliates under Rule 144 without compliance with its holding
period requirements.
 
  Upon completion of this offering, the holders of approximately 9,356,793
shares of Common Stock currently outstanding or issuable upon conversion of
Preferred Stock, or their transferees, will be entitled to certain rights with
respect to the registration of such shares under the Securities Act. See
"Description of Capital Stock--Registration Rights." Registration of such
shares under the Securities Act would result in such shares becoming freely
tradable without restriction under the Securities Act (except for share
purchases by affiliates) immediately upon the effectiveness of such
registration.
 
  The Company intends to file a registration statement under the Securities
Act covering 10,708,290 shares of Common Stock reserved or to be reserved for
issuance under the Equity Incentive Plan, the Purchase Plan and the Directors'
Plan. See "Management--Employee Benefit Plans." Such registration statement is
expected to be filed and become effective as soon as practicable after the
effective date of this offering. Accordingly, shares registered under such
registration statement will, subject to Rule 144 volume limitations applicable
to Affiliates, be available for sale in the open market, beginning 180 days
after the date of the Prospectus, unless such shares are subject to vesting
restrictions with the Company.
 
                                      62
<PAGE>
 
                                 UNDERWRITERS
 
  Under the terms and subject to the conditions contained in an Underwriting
Agreement (the "Underwriting Agreement"), the Underwriters named below (the
"Underwriters"), for whom Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, Hambrecht & Quist
LLC and CIBC Oppenheimer Corp. are acting as representatives (the
"Representatives"), have agreed severally to purchase, and the Company has
agreed to sell to them, severally, the respective number of shares of Common
Stock set forth opposite their respective names below:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                          NUMBER
                                                                            OF
NAME                                                                      SHARES
- ----                                                                      ------
<S>                                                                       <C>
Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated........................................
Hambrecht & Quist LLC....................................................
CIBC Oppenheimer Corp....................................................
                                                                           ----
    Total................................................................
                                                                           ====
</TABLE>
 
  The Underwriting Agreement provides that the obligations of the several
Underwriters to pay for and accept delivery of the shares of Common Stock
offered hereby are subject to the approval of certain legal matters by their
counsel and to certain other conditions. The Underwriters are obligated to
take and pay for all of the shares of Common Stock offered hereby (other than
those covered by the over-allotment option described below) if any such shares
are taken.
 
  The Underwriters initially propose to offer part of the shares of Common
Stock directly to the public at the initial public offering price set forth on
the cover page hereof and part to certain dealers at a price that represents a
concession not in excess of $      per share under the public offering price.
Any Underwriter may allow, and such dealers may reallow, a concession not in
excess of $      per share to other Underwriters or to certain dealers. After
the initial offering of the shares of Common Stock, the offering price and
other selling terms may from time to time be varied by the Representatives.
 
  The Company has granted to the Underwriters an option, exercisable for 30
days from the date of this Prospectus, to purchase up to an aggregate of
additional shares of Common Stock at the initial public offering price set
forth on the cover page hereof, less underwriting discounts and commissions.
The Underwriters may exercise such option solely for the purpose of covering
over-allotments, if any, made in connection with the offering of the shares of
Common Stock offered hereby. To the extent such option is exercised, each
Underwriter will become obligated, subject to certain conditions, to purchase
approximately the same percentage of such additional shares of Common Stock as
the number set forth next to such Underwriter's name in the preceding table
bears to the total number of shares of Common Stock set forth next to the
names of all Underwriters in the preceding table.
 
  The Underwriters have informed the Company that they do not intend sales to
discretionary accounts to exceed five percent of the total number of shares of
Common Stock offered by them.
 
  Each of the Company and the directors, executive officers, certain other
stockholders and option holders of the Company has agreed, subject to certain
exceptions that, without the prior written consent of Morgan Stanley & Co.
Incorporated on behalf of the Underwriters, it will not during the period
ending 180 days after the date of this Prospectus (i) offer, pledge, sell,
contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option
or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase or
otherwise transfer, lend or dispose of, directly
 
                                      63
<PAGE>
 
or indirectly, any shares of Common Stock or any securities convertible into
or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock or (ii) enter into any swap or
other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the
economic consequences of ownership of the Common Stock, whether any such
transaction described in clause (i) or (ii) above is to be settled by delivery
of Common Stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise, except under
certain limited circumstances. The restrictions described in this paragraph do
not apply to (a) the sale of Shares to the Underwriters, (b) the issuance by
the Company of shares of Common Stock upon exercise of an option or a warrant
outstanding on the date of this Prospectus and described as such in the
Prospectus, (c) the issuance by the Company of shares of Common Stock under
the Equity Incentive Plan, the Directors' Plan and the Purchase Plan or (d)
transactions by any person other than the Company relating to shares of Common
Stock or other securities acquired in open market transactions after the
completion of the offering of the Shares. See "Shares Eligible for Future
Sale."
 
  In order to facilitate the offering of the Common Stock, the Underwriters
may engage in transactions that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the
price of the Common Stock. Specifically, the Underwriters may over-allot in
connection with the offering, creating a short position in the Common Stock
for their own account. In addition, to cover over-allotments or to stabilize
the price of the Common Stock, the Underwriters may bid for, and purchase,
shares of Common Stock in the open market. Finally, the underwriting syndicate
may reclaim selling concessions allowed to an Underwriter or a dealer for
distributing the Common Stock in the offering, if the syndicate repurchases
previously distributed Common Stock in transactions to cover syndicate short
positions, in stabilization transactions or otherwise. Any of these activities
may stabilize or maintain the market price of the Common Stock above
independent market levels. The Underwriters are not required to engage in
these activities, and may end any of these activities at any time.
 
  The Company and the Underwriters have agreed to indemnify each other against
certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.
 
PRICING OF THE OFFERING
 
  Prior to this offering, there has been no public market for the Common Stock
or any other securities of the Company. The initial public offering price for
the Common Stock will be determined by negotiations among the Company and the
Representatives. Among the factors to be considered in determining the initial
public offering price will be the future prospects of the Company and its
industry in general, sales, earnings and certain other financial and operating
information of the Company in recent periods, and the price-earnings ratios,
price-sales ratios, market prices of securities and certain financial and
operating information of companies engaged in activities similar to those of
the Company. The estimated initial public offering price range set forth on
the cover page of this Preliminary Prospectus is subject to change as a result
of market conditions and other factors.
 
                                 LEGAL MATTERS
 
  The validity of the Common Stock offered hereby will be passed upon for the
Company by Cooley Godward llp ("Cooley Godward"), San Francisco, California.
Certain legal matters related to the offering will be passed upon for the
Underwriters by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation,
Palo Alto, California. As of the date of this Prospectus, certain partners and
associates of Cooley Godward own through investment partnerships an aggregate
of 124,591 shares of Common Stock of the Company. James C. Gaither, a partner
of Cooley Godward, owns 44,289 shares of Common Stock of the Company and has
an option to purchase 50,000 shares of the Company's Common Stock.
 
                                    EXPERTS
 
  The financial statements of the Company as of December 31, 1996 and 1997,
and for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 1997,
have been included in the Registration Statement in reliance upon the report
of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, independent auditors, appearing elsewhere herein,
and upon the authority of said firm as experts in accounting and auditing.
 
                                      64
<PAGE>
 
                            ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
 
  The Company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"Commission"), Washington, D.C. 20549, a Registration Statement on Form S-1
under the Securities Act with respect to the shares of Common Stock offered
hereby. This Prospectus does not contain all the information set forth in the
Registration Statement and the exhibits and schedules thereto. For further
information with respect to the Company and such Common Stock, reference is
made to the Registration Statement and to the exhibits and schedules filed
therewith. Statements contained in this Prospectus as to the contents of any
contract or other document referred to are not necessarily complete, and in
each instance reference is made to the copy of such contract or other document
filed as an exhibit to the Registration Statement, each such statement being
qualified in all respects by such reference. A copy of the Registration
Statement may be inspected by anyone without charge at the Commission's
principal office in Washington, D.C., and copies of all or any part of the
Registration Statement may be obtained from the Public Reference Section of
the Commission, 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549, and at the
Commission's regional offices located at the Northwestern Atrium Center, 500
West Madison Street, Suite 1400, Chicago, Illinois 60661 and Seven World Trade
Center, 13th Floor, New York, New York 10048, and copies of all or any part of
the Registration Statement may be obtained from such offices upon payment of
the fees prescribed by the Commission. The Commission maintains a World Wide
Web site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other
information regarding registrants that file electronically with the
Commission. The address of the site is http://www.sec.gov.
 
                                      65
<PAGE>
 
                               NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                         INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                            PAGE
                                                                            ----
<S>                                                                         <C>
Report of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, Independent Auditors.....................  F-2
Balance Sheets as of December 31, 1996 and 1997 and March 29, 1998
 (unaudited)..............................................................  F-3
Statements of Operations for the Years Ended December 31, 1995, 1996 and
 1997 and Three Months Ended March 30, 1997 (unaudited) and March 29, 1998
 (unaudited)..............................................................  F-4
Statements of Stockholders' Equity for the Years Ended December 31, 1995,
 1996 and 1997 and Three Months Ended March 29, 1998 (unaudited)..........  F-5
Statements of Cash Flows for the Years Ended December 31, 1995, 1996 and
 1997 and Three Months Ended March 30, 1997 (unaudited) and March 29, 1998
 (unaudited)..............................................................  F-6
Notes to Financial Statements.............................................  F-7
</TABLE>
 
 
                                      F-1
<PAGE>
 
                         INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT
 
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
NVIDIA Corporation:
 
  We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of NVIDIA Corporation (the
Company) as of December 31, 1996 and 1997, and the related statements of
operations, stockholders' equity and cash flows for each of the years in the
three-year period ended December 31, 1997. These financial statements are the
responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express
an opinion on these financial statements based on our audits.
 
  We conducted our audits in accordance with generally accepted auditing
standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to
obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of
material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence
supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit
also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant
estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial
statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis
for our opinion.
 
  In our opinion, the financial statements referred to above present fairly,
in all material respects, the financial position of NVIDIA Corporation as of
December 31, 1996 and 1997, and the results of its operations and its cash
flows for each of the years in the three-year period ended December 31, 1997,
in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles.
 
                                          KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
 
Mountain View, California
February 17, 1998 Except as to
Note 8 which is as of April 16, 1998
 
                                      F-2
<PAGE>
 
                               NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                                 BALANCE SHEETS
 
                       (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT SHARE DATA)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                  DECEMBER 31,
                                                ------------------
                                                                     MARCH 29,
                                                  1996      1997       1998
                                                --------  --------  -----------
                                                                    (UNAUDITED)
                                                                    -----------
<S>                                             <C>       <C>       <C>
                    ASSETS
                    ------
Current assets:
  Cash and cash equivalents.................... $  3,133  $  6,551   $  8,640
  Accounts receivable..........................    1,041    12,487     16,665
  Inventory....................................      --        --       2,523
  Prepaid expenses and other current assets....      104       303      1,101
                                                --------  --------   --------
      Total current assets.....................    4,278    19,341     28,929
Property and equipment, net....................    1,144     5,536      7,648
Deposits and other assets......................      103       161        161
                                                --------  --------   --------
                                                $  5,525  $ 25,038   $ 36,738
                                                ========  ========   ========
     LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
     ------------------------------------
Current liabilities:
  Accounts payable............................. $    277  $ 11,572   $ 19,331
  Accrued liabilities..........................    2,872     3,245      3,654
  Income taxes payable.........................      --        --         728
  Current portion of capital lease obligations.      722     1,434      1,625
                                                --------  --------   --------
      Total current liabilities................    3,871    16,251     25,338
                                                --------  --------   --------
Capital lease obligations, less current
 portion.......................................      617     1,891      2,143
                                                --------  --------   --------
Commitments....................................      --        --         --
Stockholders' equity:
  Convertible preferred stock, $.001 par value;
   10,000,000 shares authorized;
   Shares issued and outstanding 7,888,275 in
    1996, 9,327,087 in 1997 and 9,327,087 on
    March 29, 1998; aggregate liquidation
    preference of $19,827 in 1997 and 1998.....        8         9          9
  Common stock, $.001 par value; 200,000,000
   shares authorized; 11,567,374, 14,140,585
   and 14,141,710 shares issued and outstanding
   in 1996, 1997 and March 29, 1998,
   respectively................................       12        14         14
  Additional paid-in capital...................   12,317    22,902     23,211
  Deferred compensation........................      --     (2,038)    (2,166)
  Accumulated deficit..........................  (11,300)  (13,991)   (11,811)
                                                --------  --------   --------
      Total stockholders' equity...............    1,037     6,896      9,257
                                                --------  --------   --------
                                                $  5,525  $ 25,038   $ 36,738
                                                ========  ========   ========
</TABLE>
 
                See accompanying notes to financial statements.
 
                                      F-3
<PAGE>
 
                               NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                            STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
 
                     (IN THOUSANDS, EXCEPT PER SHARE DATA)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                  YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,    THREE MONTHS ENDED
                                  -------------------------  -------------------
                                                             MARCH 30, MARCH 29,
                                   1995     1996     1997      1997      1998
                                  -------  -------  -------  --------- ---------
                                                                 (UNAUDITED)
<S>                               <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>       <C>
Revenue:
  Product.......................  $ 1,103  $ 3,710  $27,280   $    65   $33,210
  Royalty.......................       79      202    1,791       --      4,452
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
    Total revenue...............    1,182    3,912   29,071        65    37,662
Cost of revenue.................    1,549    3,038   21,226       208    27,559
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
Gross profit (loss).............     (367)     874    7,845      (143)   10,103
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
Operating expenses:
  Research and development......    2,426    1,218    6,632       616     3,815
  Sales, general and
   administrative...............    3,677    2,649    3,773       385     3,341
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
    Total operating expenses....    6,103    3,867   10,405     1,001     7,156
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
    Operating income (loss).....   (6,470)  (2,993)  (2,560)   (1,144)    2,947
Interest and other income
 (expense), net.................       93      (84)    (131)      (32)      (39)
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
Income (loss) before tax
 expense........................   (6,377)  (3,077)  (2,691)   (1,176)    2,908
Income tax expense..............      --       --       --        --        728
                                  -------  -------  -------   -------   -------
    Net income (loss)...........   (6,377)  (3,077)  (2,691)   (1,176)    2,180
                                  =======  =======  =======   =======   =======
Basic net income (loss) per
 share..........................  $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)  $  (.10)  $   .15
                                  =======  =======  =======   =======   =======
Diluted net income (loss) per
 share..........................  $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)  $  (.10)  $   .08
                                  =======  =======  =======   =======   =======
Shares used in basic per share
 computation....................   11,365   11,383   12,677    11,578    14,142
Shares used in diluted per share
 computation....................   11,365   11,383   12,677    11,578    25,729
</TABLE>
 
 
                See accompanying notes to financial statements.
 
                                      F-4
<PAGE>
 
                               NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                       STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
 
                             (DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                                             TOTAL
                          PREFERRED STOCK    COMMON STOCK    ADDITIONAL DEFERRED  ACCUMU-    STOCK-
                          ---------------- -----------------  PAID-IN   COMPEN-    LATED    HOLDERS'
                           SHARES   AMOUNT   SHARES   AMOUNT  CAPITAL    SATION   DEFICIT    EQUITY
                          --------- ------ ---------- ------ ---------- --------  --------  --------
<S>                       <C>       <C>    <C>        <C>    <C>        <C>       <C>       <C>
Balances, December 31,
 1994...................  6,693,831  $ 7   11,365,300  $11    $ 6,456   $   --    $ (1,846) $ 4,628
Issuance of Series B
 preferred stock........    416,667  --           --   --         750       --         --       750
Exercise of Series B
 warrants...............     13,888  --           --   --          25       --         --        25
Issuance of Series C
 preferred stock, net of
 issuance costs of $14..    750,000    1          --   --       4,985       --         --     4,986
Net loss................        --   --           --   --         --        --      (6,377)  (6,377)
                          ---------  ---   ----------  ---    -------   -------   --------  -------
Balances, December 31,
 1995...................  7,874,386    8   11,365,300   11     12,216       --      (8,223)   4,012
Exercise of Series B
 warrants...............     13,889  --           --   --          25       --         --        25
Issuance of common stock
 and stock options for
 services...............        --   --         2,200  --          25       --         --        25
Issuance of common stock
 upon exercise of stock
 options................        --   --       199,874    1         51       --         --        52
Net loss................        --   --           --   --         --        --      (3,077)  (3,077)
                          ---------  ---   ----------  ---    -------   -------   --------  -------
Balances, December 31,
 1996...................  7,888,275    8   11,567,374   12     12,317       --     (11,300)   1,037
Issuance of Series D
 preferred stock, net of
 issuance costs of $30..  1,438,812    1          --   --       7,537       --         --     7,538
Grant of common stock
 options for lease
 financing and
 consulting services....        --   --           --   --         120       --         --       120
Issuance of common stock
 upon exercise of stock
 options................        --   --     2,573,211    2        828       --         --       830
Deferred compensation
 related to grant of
 common stock options...        --   --           --   --       2,100    (2,100)       --       --
Amortization of deferred
 compensation...........        --   --           --   --         --         62        --        62
Net loss................        --   --           --   --         --        --      (2,691)  (2,691)
                          ---------  ---   ----------  ---    -------   -------   --------  -------
Balances, December 31,
 1997...................  9,327,087    9   14,140,585   14     22,902    (2,038)   (13,991)   6,896
Issuance of common stock
 upon exercise of stock
 options(1).............        --   --         1,125  --           4       --         --         4
Deferred compensation
 related to grant of
 common stock
 options (1) ...........        --   --           --   --         305      (305)       --       --
Amortization of deferred
 compensation (1).......        --   --           --   --         --        177        --       177
Net income (1)..........        --   --           --   --         --        --       2,180    2,180
                          ---------  ---   ----------  ---    -------   -------   --------  -------
Balances, March 29, 1998  9,327,087  $ 9   14,141,710  $14    $23,211   $(2,166)  $(11,811) $ 9,257
                          =========  ===   ==========  ===    =======   =======   ========  =======
</TABLE>
- --------
(1) Unaudited
 
 
                See accompanying notes to financial statements.
 
                                      F-5
<PAGE>
 
                               NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                            STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
 
                                 (IN THOUSANDS)
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                 YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,     THREE MONTHS ENDED
                                 --------------------------  -------------------
                                                             MARCH 30, MARCH 29,
                                  1995     1996      1997      1997      1998
                                 -------  -------  --------  --------- ---------
                                                                 (UNAUDITED)
<S>                              <C>      <C>      <C>       <C>       <C>
Cash flows from operating
 activities:
  Net income (loss)............  $(6,377) $(3,077) $ (2,691)  $(1,176)  $ 2,180
  Adjustments to reconcile net
   income (loss) to net cash
   provided by (used in)
   operating activities:
    Depreciation and
     amortization..............      524      802     1,363       235       677
    Stock options granted in
     exchange for lease
     financing and services....       25       50       120       --        --
    Amortization of deferred
     compensation..............      --       --         62       --        177
    Changes in operating assets
     and liabilities:
      Accounts receivable......     (458)     (24)  (11,446)   (1,067)   (4,178)
      Inventory................      --       --        --        --     (2,523)
      Prepaid expenses and
       other current assets....     (592)      44      (199)      (41)     (798)
      Deposits and other
       assets..................      (65)     (19)      (58)      --        --
      Accounts payable.........      510     (506)   11,295       (18)    7,759
      Accrued liabilities......      300    2,451       373     1,132       409
      Income taxes payable.....      --       --        --        --        728
                                 -------  -------  --------   -------   -------
        Net cash provided by
         (used in) operating
         activities............   (6,133)    (279)   (1,181)     (935)    4,431
                                 -------  -------  --------   -------   -------
Cash flows used in investing
 activities--purchases of
 property and equipment........       (5)      (9)   (2,732)      (60)   (2,024)
                                 -------  -------  --------   -------   -------
Cash flows from financing
 activities:
  Net proceeds from sale of
   common stock................      --        51       830         6         4
  Net proceeds from sale of
   preferred stock.............    5,762      --      7,538       --        --
  Payments under capital
   leases......................     (307)    (502)   (1,037)     (210)     (322)
                                 -------  -------  --------   -------   -------
        Net cash provided by
         (used in) financing
         activities............    5,455     (451)    7,331      (204)     (318)
                                 -------  -------  --------   -------   -------
Change in cash and cash
 equivalents...................     (683)    (739)    3,418    (1,199)    2,089
Cash and cash equivalents at
 beginning of period...........    4,555    3,872     3,133     3,133     6,551
                                 -------  -------  --------   -------   -------
Cash and cash equivalents at
 end of period.................  $ 3,872  $ 3,133  $  6,551   $ 1,934   $ 8,640
                                 =======  =======  ========   =======   =======
Cash paid for interest.........  $   152  $   215  $    267   $    54   $    84
                                 =======  =======  ========   =======   =======
Noncash financing and investing
 activity--assets recorded
 under capital lease...........  $ 1,430  $   265  $  3,023   $   544   $   765
                                 =======  =======  ========   =======   =======
</TABLE>
 
 
                See accompanying notes to financial statements.
 
                                      F-6
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                         NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
                               DECEMBER 31, 1997
                     (UNAUDITED AS TO MARCH 29, 1998 DATA)
 
(1) ORGANIZATION AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES
 
  Organization
 
  NVIDIA Corporation (the "Company") designs, develops and markets 3D
interactive graphics processors and related software for the mainstream PC
market. The Company operates primarily in one business segment in the United
States.
 
  Interim Financial Information
 
  The financial information presented as of and for the three months ended
March 30, 1997 and March 29, 1998 is unaudited. In the opinion of management,
this unaudited financial information contains all adjustments (which consist
only of normal, recurring adjustments) necessary for a fair presentation.
Operating results for the three months ended March 29, 1998 are not
necessarily indicative of results that may be expected for the full year.
 
  Fiscal Year
 
  The Company's fiscal years ended on December 31 prior to December 31, 1997.
Effective January 1, 1998, the Company changed its fiscal year end from
December 31 to a 52- or 53-week year ending on the last Sunday in December.
 
  Cash and Cash Equivalents
 
  The Company considers all highly liquid investments purchased with a
maturity of three months or less at the time of purchase to be cash
equivalents.
 
  Inventories
 
  Inventories are stated at the lower of first-in, first-out cost or market.
Inventories at March 29, 1998 primarily consisted of finished goods.
Inventories were immaterial as of December 31, 1996 and 1997.
 
  Property and Equipment
 
  Property and equipment are stated at cost. Depreciation is computed using
the straight-line method based on estimated useful lives, generally three to
four years. Depreciation expense includes the amortization of assets recorded
under capital leases. Leasehold improvements and assets recorded under capital
leases are amortized over the shorter of the lease term or the estimated
useful life of the asset.
 
  Software Development Costs
 
  Software development costs are expensed as incurred until the technological
feasibility of the related product has been established. After technological
feasibility is established, any additional software development costs would be
capitalized in accordance with Financial Accounting Standards Board Statement
of Financial Accounting Standards ("SFAS") No. 86, Capitalization of Software
Development Costs. Through December 31, 1997, the Company's process for
developing software was essentially completed concurrently with the
establishment of technological feasibility, and, accordingly, no software
costs have been capitalized to date. Software development costs incurred prior
to achieving technological feasibility are charged to research and development
expense as incurred.
 
                                      F-7
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
  Revenue Recognition
   
  Revenue from product sales to original equipment manufacturers is recognized
after receipt of a signed purchase order and upon shipment, if acceptance of
the product is assured and collectibility of the resulting receivable is
probable. An allowance for any anticipated returns is recorded at the time of
sale. While the Company has not yet sold products through distributors, the
Company's policy on sales to distributors will be to defer recognition of
sales and related gross profit until the distributors resell the product.
Royalty revenue is recognized upon shipment of product by the licensee to its
customers. The Company believes its revenue recognition policies are in
accordance with American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Statement
of Position ("SOP") No. 91-1 and its successor, SOP No. 97-2.     
 
  Research and Development Arrangements
 
  The Company enters into contractual agreements to provide design,
development and support services on a best efforts basis. All amounts funded
to the Company under these agreements are non-refundable once paid. The
Company recorded reductions to research and development expense based on the
percentage-of-completion method, limited by the amounts funded.
 
  Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation
 
  The Company uses the intrinsic value method to account for its stock-based
employee compensation plans.
 
  Income Taxes
 
  The Company records income taxes using the asset and liability method.
Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future
tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement
carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax
bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax
rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected
to be recorded or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities
of a change in tax rates is recognized in income in the period that includes
the enactment date.
 
  Net Income (Loss) Per Share
 
  Basic net income (loss) per share is computed using the weighted average
number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net income
(loss) per share is computed using the weighted average number of common and
dilutive common equivalent shares outstanding during the period, using either
the as-if-converted method for convertible preferred stock or the treasury
stock method for options and warrants. The effect of including convertible
preferred stock, options and warrants would have been antidilutive during all
periods presented and, as a result, such effect has been excluded from the
computation of diluted net loss per share. See Note 3 for information
regarding potentially dilutive outstanding shares of, and warrants to
purchase, convertible preferred stock and outstanding options to purchase
common stock. Pursuant to SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 98, common stock
and convertible preferred stock issued for nominal consideration and options
and warrants granted for nominal consideration prior to the anticipated
effective date of the initial public offering (IPO) are included in the
calculation of basic and diluted net income (loss) per share, as if they were
outstanding for all periods presented. To date, the Company has not had any
issuances or grants for nominal consideration. The following is a
reconciliation of the numerators and denominators of the basic and diluted
earnings per share (EPS) computations for the periods presented:
 
                                      F-8
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                         PER
                                                INCOME       SHARES     SHARE
                                              (NUMERATOR) (DENOMINATOR) AMOUNT
                                              ----------- ------------- ------
                                                       (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                                           <C>         <C>           <C>
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1995
Basic and Diluted EPS:
Net loss.....................................   $(6,377)     11,365     $(0.56)
                                                =======      ======     ======
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1996
Basic and Diluted EPS:
Net loss.....................................   $(3,077)     11,383     $(0.27)
                                                =======      ======     ======
YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1997
Basic and Diluted EPS:
Net loss.....................................   $(2,691)     12,677     $(0.21)
                                                =======      ======     ======
THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH 30, 1998
Basic EPS:
Net income...................................   $22,108      14,142     $ 0.15
Effect of dilutive securities:
  Stock options outstanding..................       --        2,260      (0.02)
  Convertible................................       --        9,327      (0.05)
                                                -------      ------     ------
Diluted EPS:
Net income...................................   $22,108      25,729     $ 0.08
                                                =======      ======     ======
</TABLE>
 
  Fair Value of Financial Instruments
 
  The carrying value of cash, cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts
payable and accrued liabilities approximate fair value due to the short
maturity of those instruments.
 
  Use of Estimates
 
  The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally
accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and
assumptions that affect the recorded amounts of assets and liabilities and
disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial
statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the
reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates.
 
(2) BALANCE SHEET COMPONENTS
 
  Certain balance sheet components are as follows:
 
  Property and Equipment
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                    DECEMBER 31,
                                                   ----------------
                                                                      MARCH 29,
                                                    1996     1997       1998
                                                   -------  -------  -----------
                                                                     (UNAUDITED)
                                                         (IN THOUSANDS)
     <S>                                           <C>      <C>      <C>
     Purchased engineering software............... $    --  $ 3,158    $ 3,313
     Test equipment...............................     187    1,467      1,484
     Computer equipment...........................   2,209    3,264      5,750
     Leasehold improvements.......................      69       74         74
     Office furniture and equipment...............     159      259        358
     Assets held for lease........................     --       157        188
                                                   -------  -------    -------
                                                     2,624    8,379     11,167
     Accumulated depreciation and amortization....  (1,480)  (2,843)    (3,519)
                                                   -------  -------    -------
       Property and equipment, net................ $ 1,144  $ 5,536    $ 7,648
                                                   =======  =======    =======
</TABLE>
 
                                      F-9
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
  Accrued Liabilities
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                       DECEMBER 31,
                                                       -------------
                                                                      MARCH 29,
                                                        1996   1997     1998
                                                       ------ ------ -----------
                                                                     (UNAUDITED)
                                                            (IN THOUSANDS)
     <S>                                               <C>    <C>    <C>
     Advances on development agreement................ $2,500 $2,500   $1,875
     Other............................................    372    745    1,779
                                                       ------ ------   ------
                                                       $2,872 $3,245   $3,654
                                                       ====== ======   ======
</TABLE>
 
(3) STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
 
  Convertible Preferred Stock
 
  In 1993, the Company sold 4,303,000 shares of Series A preferred stock at
$0.50 per share, net of $22,000 of issuance costs. In 1994, the Company sold
2,390,831 shares of Series B preferred stock at $1.80 per share, net of
$57,000 of issuance costs. In 1995, the Company sold 416,667 shares of Series
B preferred stock at $1.80 per share. In 1995, the Company sold 750,000 shares
of Series C preferred stock at $6.67 per share, net of $14,000 of issuance
costs. On August 19 and September 12, 1997, the Company sold an aggregate of
1,438,812 shares of Series D preferred stock at $5.26 per share, net of
$30,000 of issuance costs.
 
  The rights, preferences, and privileges of the holders of Series A, B, C and
D convertible preferred stock are as follows:
 
  .  Dividends are noncumulative and payable only upon declaration by the
     Board of Directors at a rate of $.04, $.144, $.533 and $.42 per share
     for Series A, B, C and D preferred stock, respectively.
 
  .  Holders of Series A, B, C and D preferred stock have a liquidation
     preference of $.50, $1.80, $6.67, and $5.26 per share, respectively,
     plus any declared but unpaid dividends over holders of common stock.
 
  .  Each holder of preferred stock has voting rights equal to common stock
     on an "as-if-converted" basis.
 
  .  Each share of preferred stock may be converted into common stock at the
     option of the holder on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment to
     protect against dilution. Automatic conversion will occur upon the
     earlier of a vote of holders of at least two-thirds of the shares of
     preferred stock then outstanding or upon the closing of an initial
     public offering of common stock in which the aggregate proceeds exceed
     $15,000,000 and the offering price equals or exceeds $10.00 per share.
 
  Warrants
 
  During the period 1993 through 1997, the Company granted warrants to
purchase 80,000; 66,877; 10,000 and 29,706 of Series A, B, C and D preferred
stock, respectively, in connection with lease financing and services. These
warrants are exercisable at $.50, $1.80, $6.67 and $5.26 for shares of Series
A, B, C and D preferred stock, respectively, and expire from 2003 to 2007. At
December 31, 1997, warrants to purchase 80,000, 39,100, 10,000 and 29,706
shares of Series A, B, C and D preferred stock, respectively, were
outstanding.
 
  The fair value of all warrant issuances calculated using the Black-Scholes
option pricing model was not material, using the following assumptions:
dividend yield - none; expected life - contractual term; risk free interest
rates - 6.0% to 6.5%; volatility - 60%.
 
                                     F-10
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
  Options
 
  The Equity Incentive Plan (the "Plan"), as amended and restated on February
17, 1998, provides for the issuance of up to 15,000,000 shares of the
Company's common stock to directors, employees and consultants. The Plan
provides for the issuance of stock bonuses, restricted stock purchase rights,
incentive stock options or nonstatutory stock options.
 
  Pursuant to the Plan, the exercise price for incentive stock options is at
least 100% of the fair market value on the date of grant or for employees
owning in excess of 10% of the voting power of all classes of stock, 110% of
the fair market value on the date of grant. For nonstatutory stock options,
the exercise price is no less than 85% of the fair market value on the date of
grant.
 
  Options generally expire in 10 years. Vesting periods are determined by the
Board of Directors; however, options generally vest ratably over four years
beginning one year after the date of grant. Options may be exercised prior to
full vesting. Any unvested shares so purchased are subject to a repurchase
right in favor of the Company with the repurchase price to be equal to the
original purchase price of the stock. The right to repurchase at the original
price shall lapse at a minimum rate of 20% per year over five years from the
date the option was granted. As of December 31, 1997, there were 1,942,897
such shares subject to repurchase.
 
  The Company accounts for the plan using the intrinsic value method. As such,
compensation expense is recorded if on the date of grant the current fair
value per share of the underlying stock exceeds the exercise price per share.
With respect to certain options granted during 1997, the Company has recorded
deferred compensation of $2,100,000 for the difference at the grant date
between the exercise price per share and the fair value per share, based upon
independent valuations and management's estimate of the fair value of the
Company's stock on the various grant dates of the common stock underlying the
options. This amount is being amortized on a straight line basis over the
vesting period of the individual options, generally four years.
 
  Had compensation cost for the Company's stock-based compensation plan been
determined consistent with SFAS No. 123, the Company's net loss would have
increased and net income would have decreased to the pro forma amounts
indicated below:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                             THREE MONTHS ENDED
                                   1995     1996     1997      MARCH 29, 1998
                                  -------  -------  -------  ------------------
                                      (IN THOUSANDS)            (UNAUDITED)
<S>                               <C>      <C>      <C>      <C>
Net income (loss):
  As reported.................... $(6,377) $(3,077) $(2,691)       $2,180
  Pro forma......................  (6,389)  (3,109)  (2,796)        2,140
Net income (loss) per share:
  As reported and pro forma basic
   net income (loss) per share... $  (.56) $  (.27) $  (.21)       $  .15
  As reported and pro forma
   diluted net income (loss) per
   share.........................    (.56)    (.27)    (.21)          .08
  Shares used in computing
   reported and pro forma basic
   net income (loss) per share...  11,365   11,383   12,677        14,142
  Shares used in computing
   reported and pro forma diluted
   net income (loss) per share...  11,365   11,383   12,677        25,729
</TABLE>
 
  The fair value of each option grant is estimated on the date of grant using
the minimum value method with the following weighted-average assumptions: no
dividend yield; risk free interest rate of 6.5%; and expected life for the
option of five years.
 
                                     F-11
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
  A summary of option transactions under the Plan follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                       WEIGHTED
                                                           NUMBER OF    AVERAGE
                                              AVAILABLE   SHARES UNDER PRICE PER
                                              FOR GRANT      OPTION      SHARE
                                             -----------  ------------ ---------
     <S>                                     <C>          <C>          <C>
     Balances, December 31, 1994............     459,707      143,000    $ .09
       Authorized...........................   1,500,000          --       --
       Granted..............................  (1,490,375)   1,490,375      .18
       Exercised............................         --       (12,500)     .18
                                             -----------   ----------
     Balances, December 31, 1995............     469,332    1,620,875      .17
       Authorized...........................   4,000,000          --       --
       Granted..............................  (1,756,860)   1,756,860      .31
       Exercised............................         --      (407,581)     .20
       Canceled.............................     794,134     (794,134)     .19
                                             -----------   ----------
     Balances, December 31, 1996............   3,506,606    2,176,020      .27
       Authorized...........................   2,000,000          --       --
       Granted..............................  (4,950,857)   4,950,857     1.43
       Exercised............................         --    (2,573,211)     .32
       Canceled.............................     868,208     (868,208)     .29
                                             -----------   ----------
     Balances, December 31, 1997............   1,423,957    3,685,458      .28
       Authorized (unaudited)...............   4,800,000          --       --
       Granted (unaudited).................. (2,327,500)    2,327,500     6.93
       Exercised (unaudited)................         --        (1,125)    3.15
       Canceled (unaudited).................      15,000      (15,000)    5.67
                                             -----------   ----------
     Balances, March 29, 1998 (unaudited)...   3,911,457    5,996,833    $3.90
                                             ===========   ==========
</TABLE>
 
  During 1997, the Company granted Common Stock options within the Plan to
consultants for services rendered. The fair value of all option grants to non-
employees calculated using the Black-Scholes option pricing model was
$120,000, using the following assumptions: dividend yield--none; expected
life--contractual term; risk free interest rates--6.0% to 6.5%; volatility--
60%. Options to purchase 50,000 shares of Common Stock were granted to an
outside investor during the Series D preferred stock offering.
 
  The weighted-average fair value of options granted during 1995, 1996 and
1997 was $.05, $.08 and $.79, respectively. At December 31, 1997, 2,230,458
shares were exercisable.
 
  The following table summarizes information about stock options outstanding
as of December 31, 1997:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                    OUTSTANDING
                                               ---------------------
                                                          WEIGHTED-
                                                           AVERAGE
                                                          REMAINING    NUMBER
                     EXERCISE                   NUMBER   CONTRACTUAL  OF SHARES
                      PRICES                   OF SHARES    LIFE     EXERCISABLE
                     --------                  --------- ----------- -----------
     <S>                                       <C>       <C>         <C>
     $ .05....................................     3,000    6.50          3,000
       .18....................................    50,000    7.08         50,000
       .36.................................... 1,034,833    9.07      1,034,833
      1.30....................................   796,000    9.70        781,000
      2.64.................................... 1,155,500    9.91        345,500
      3.15....................................   696,125    9.98         16,125
                                               ---------    ----      ---------
     $ .05 - $3.15............................ 3,735,458    9.60      2,230,458
                                               =========              =========
</TABLE>
 
                                     F-12
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
(4) COMMITMENTS
 
  The Company leases a facility in Sunnyvale, California under operating lease
agreements that expire in August 1998. The Company is committed to pay
approximately $499,000 of future minimum lease payments under this agreement
during 1998. Rent expense for 1995, 1996 and 1997 was approximately $325,000,
$408,000 and $426,000, respectively.
 
  In addition to the facility lease, the Company also leases certain computers
and equipment under capital leases with the option to purchase the assets upon
termination of the leases. As of December 31, 1997, future minimum lease
payments, including costs to exercise buyout options under capital leases,
were as follows:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                 (IN THOUSANDS)
<S>                                                              <C>
Year ending December 31:
  1998..........................................................     $1,589
  1999..........................................................      1,442
  2000..........................................................        934
  2001..........................................................          7
                                                                     ------
    Total lease payments........................................      3,972
Less amount representing interest, at rates ranging from 9% to
 12%............................................................        647
                                                                     ------
Present value of minimum lease payments.........................      3,325
Less current portion............................................      1,434
                                                                     ------
    Long-term portion...........................................     $1,891
                                                                     ======
</TABLE>
 
  Assets recorded under capital leases included in property and equipment were
$2,314,000 and $4,765,000 as of December 31, 1996 and 1997, respectively.
Accumulated amortization thereon was $1,233,000 and $2,137,000 as of December
31, 1996 and 1997, respectively.
 
(5) INCOME TAXES
 
  The tax effects of temporary differences that give rise to significant
portions of the deferred tax assets and liabilities are presented below:
 
<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
                                                                DECEMBER 31,
                                                               ----------------
                                                                1996     1997
                                                               -------  -------
                                                               (IN THOUSANDS)
     <S>                                                       <C>      <C>
     Deferred tax assets:
       Net operating loss carryforwards....................... $ 3,374  $ 3,743
       Plant and equipment--depreciation differences..........     127      173
       Advances on development contract.......................     996      996
       Research credit carryforwards..........................     617    1,058
       Stock options..........................................     --        72
       Other reserves and accruals............................     107      229
                                                               -------  -------
         Total gross deferred tax assets......................   5,221    6,271
       Less valuation allowance...............................  (5,221)  (6,271)
                                                               -------  -------
         Net deferred tax assets.............................. $   --   $   --
                                                               =======  =======
</TABLE>
 
  The net increase in the valuation allowance was approximately $1,800,000 and
$1,050,000 for the years ended December 31, 1996 and 1997, respectively. The
Company believes that sufficient uncertainty exists with
 
                                     F-13
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
respect to future realization of these deferred tax assets; therefore, it has
established a valuation allowance against all net deferred tax assets.
 
  The Company has net operating loss carryforwards for federal income tax
return purposes of approximately $10,000,000, which can be used to reduce
future taxable income. These carryforwards expire in 2008 through 2012. As of
December 31, 1997, the Company had California operating loss carryforwards of
approximately $5,000,000 available to offset future income subject to
California franchise tax. The difference between the federal loss
carryforwards and the California loss carryforwards results primarily from a
50% limitation on California loss carryforwards, and certain research and
development costs that were deferred for California tax purposes. The
California net operating loss carryforwards expire in various amounts from
1998 through 2002. The Company also has federal and California tax credit
carryforwards of approximately $600,000 and $450,000, respectively, as of
December 31, 1997. These tax credits expire through 2012.
 
  Under the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the amounts of any benefit from net
operating losses and credits that can be carried forward may be limited in the
event of an ownership change as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, Section
382.
 
(6) DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS
 
  The Company has a strategic collaboration agreement with ST
Microelectronics, Inc. ("ST") for the manufacture, marketing, and sale of
certain of the Company's products. In 1996, ST paid the Company $2,500,000 for
advanced royalty payments and agreed to partially support the research and
development and marketing efforts for certain of the Company's products. In
connection with this agreement the Company recorded royalty income of $79,000,
$202,000 and $1,791,000 in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively; a reduction to
research and development cost of $1,580,000 and $1,936,000 in 1996 and 1997,
respectively, and a reduction to sales, general and administrative expense of
$495,000 and $420,000 in 1996 and 1997, respectively. In January of 1998, ST
agreed to forgive the $2,500,000 in advanced royalty payments in exchange for
the Company's obligation to provide ST continued development and support on
certain products developed through the end of 1998. Accordingly, $2,500,000 is
included in accrued liabilities at December 31, 1996 and 1997.
 
  In May 1995, the Company entered into a five year strategic alliance
agreement (the "Agreement") with a third party to develop a product, the NV2,
using the Company's technology with the purpose of incorporating the NV2 into
such third party's products. The third party made nonrefundable payments to
the Company to develop the NV2. The Company recorded a reduction to research
and development of $2,000,000 in 1995 and $3,000,000 in 1996. As part of this
agreement, the third party also purchased in July 1995, 750,000 shares of
Series C convertible preferred stock for $5,000,000. The third party revised
its product development plans, and the Company terminated the development of
this particular technology in 1996.
 
  The costs incurred under the development agreements approximated the amounts
recorded as reduction to expenses.
 
(7) RISK AND UNCERTAINTIES
 
  Product Concentration. The Company designs, develops and markets 3D graphics
processors for the mainstream PC market. Substantially all of the Company's
revenue from product sales in 1997 was derived from sales of one product, the
RIVA128 graphics processor. Since the Company has no other product line, the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations would be
materially adversely affected if for any reason its current or future 3D
graphics processors do not achieve widespread acceptance in the mainstream PC
market.
 
                                     F-14
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
 
  Customer Concentration. The Company has only a limited number of customers
and its sales are highly concentrated. The Company primarily sells its
products to add-in board manufacturers, which incorporate graphics products in
the boards they sell to PC OEMs. Product revenue from STB Systems, Inc.
("STB") and Diamond Multimedia Systems, Inc. ("Diamond") accounted for 63% and
31%, respectively, of the Company's 1997 revenue and in 1996 and 1995 Diamond
accounted for 82% and 86%, respectively, of revenue. Sales to add-in board
manufacturers are primarily dependent on achieving design wins with leading PC
OEMs, and the Company believes that the large majority of its 1997 revenue was
attributable to products that ultimately were incorporated into PCs sold by
Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Micron and Packard Bell NEC. As a result, the Company's
business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially
adversely affected by the decision of a single PC OEM or add-in board
manufacturer to cease using the Company's products or by a decline in the
number of PCs or boards sold by a single PC OEM or add-in board manufacturers
or by a small number of customers.
 
  Accounts receivable as of December 31, 1997 were $6,261,000 and $5,768,000
from STB and Diamond, respectively.
 
  Markets. In 1997, the Company derived all of its revenue from the sale or
license of products for use in PCs. The PC market is characterized by rapidly
changing technology, evolving industry standards, frequent new product
introductions and significant price competition, resulting in short product
life cycles and regular reductions in average selling prices over the life of
a specific product. In addition, the Company's success will depend in part
upon the emerging mainstream PC 3D graphics market. This market has only
recently begun to emerge and is dependent on future development of a
substantial customer and computer manufacturer demand for 3D graphics
functionality. If the market for mainstream PC 3D graphics fails to develop or
develops more slowly than expected, the Company's business, financial
condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
 
  Intellectual Property. The Company relies primarily on a combination of
patent, mask work protection, trademarks, copyrights, trade secret laws,
employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements and licensing arrangements
to protect its intellectual property. Vigorous protection and pursuit of
intellectual property rights or positions characterize the semiconductor
industry, which in turn has resulted in significant and often protracted and
expensive litigation. The 3D graphics market in particular has been
characterized recently by the aggressive pursuit of intellectual property
positions. Infringement claims by third parties or claims for indemnification
by customers or end users of the Company's products resulting from
infringement claims could be asserted in the future and such assertions, of
proven to be true, could materially adversely affect the Company's business,
financial condition and results of operations. Any limitations on the
Company's ability to market its products, or delays and costs associated with
redesigning its products or payments of license fees to third parties, or any
failure by the Company to develop or license a substitute technology on
commercially reasonable terms, could have a material adverse effect on the
Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.
 
(8) SUBSEQUENT EVENTS
 
  Reincorporation
 
  On April 16, 1998, the Company was reincorporated in the state of Delaware.
The Certificate of Incorporation of the Delaware corporation authorizes
200,000,000 shares of common stock, $.001 par value per share, and 10,000,000
shares of preferred stock, $.001 par value per share. The accompanying
financial statements have been retroactively restated to give effect to the
reincorporation.
 
  Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
 
  In February 1998, the Board approved the 1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan
(the "Purchase Plan"), covering an aggregate of 500,000 shares of Common
Stock. The Purchase Plan is intended to qualify as an
 
                                     F-15
<PAGE>
 
                              NVIDIA CORPORATION
 
                  NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS--(CONTINUED)
 
"employee stock purchase plan" within the meaning of Section 423 of the Code.
Under the Purchase Plan, the Board may authorize participation by eligible
employees, including officers, in periodic offerings following the adoption of
the Purchase Plan. The offering period for any offering will be no longer than
27 months.
 
  Employees are eligible to participate if they are employed by the Company or
an affiliate of the Company designated by the Board. Employees who participate
in an offering generally can have up to 10% of their earnings withheld
pursuant to the Purchase Plan and applied, on specified dates determined by
the Board, to the purchase of shares of Common Stock. The Board may increase
this percentage in its discretion, up to 15%. The price of Common Stock
purchased under the Purchase Plan will be equal to 85% of the lower of the
fair market value of the Common Stock on the commencement date of each
offering period or the relevant purchase date. Employees may end their
participation in the offering at any time during the offering period, and
participation ends automatically on termination of employment with the
Company.
 
  Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan
 
  In February 1998, the Board adopted the 1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock
Option Plan (the "Directors' Plan") to provide for the automatic grant of
options to purchase shares of Common Stock to non-employee directors of the
Company who are not employees of or consultants to the Company or an affiliate
of the Company (a "Non-Employee Director"). The Compensation Committee
administers the Directors' Plan. The aggregate number of shares of Common
Stock that may be issued pursuant to options granted under the Directors' Plan
is 300,000 shares.
 
LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
   
  Silicon Graphics, Inc. ("SGI") filed a patent infringement lawsuit against
the Company in April 1998, and in May 1998, S3 Incorporated ("S3") filed a
patent infringement lawsuit against the Company. In the event of an adverse
result in either the SGI or the S3 suit, the Company could be required to do
one or more of the following: pay substantial damages (including treble
damages), cease the manufacture, use and sale of any infringing products,
expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology, or obtain a
license from SGI or S3 for any infringing technology. Either suit could result
in limitations on the Company's ability to market its products, delays and
costs associated with redesigning its products or payments of license fees or
other payments to SGI or S3, any of which would have a material adverse effect
on the Company's business, financial condition and results of operations.     
 
                                     F-16
<PAGE>
 
                               INSIDE BACK COVER
 
[Description of illustrations: Depiction of a bee on a computer screen in the
following phases of graphic rendering--wire frame, Gouraud shading, texture
mapping and bump mapping with lighting and reflections.]
<PAGE>
 
 
 
                                [LOGO OF NVIDIA]
 
 
<PAGE>
 
                                    PART II
 
                    INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN PROSPECTUS
 
ITEM 13. OTHER EXPENSES OF ISSUANCE AND DISTRIBUTION.
 
  The following table sets forth all expenses, other than the underwriting
discounts and commissions, payable by the Registrant in connection with the
sale of the shares of Common Stock being registered. All the amounts shown are
estimates except for the SEC registration fee, the NASD filing fee and the
Nasdaq National Market application fee.
 
<TABLE>
      <S>                                                            <C>
      SEC Registration fee.......................................... $   11,800
      NASD filing fee...............................................      4,500
      Nasdaq National Market listing fee............................     95,000
      Blue sky qualification fees and expenses......................      5,000
      Printing and engraving expenses...............................    150,000
      Legal fees and expenses.......................................    400,000
      Accounting fees and expenses..................................    175,000
      Transfer agent and registrar fees.............................     10,000
      Miscellaneous.................................................    298,700
                                                                     ----------
          Total..................................................... $1,150,000
                                                                     ==========
</TABLE>
 
ITEM 14. INDEMNIFICATION OF OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS.
 
  As permitted by Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, the
Bylaws of the Company provide that (i) the Company is required to indemnify
its directors and executive officers to the fullest extent permitted by the
Delaware General Corporation Law, (ii) the Company may, in its discretion,
indemnify other officers, employees and agents as set forth in the Delaware
General Corporation Law, (iii) to the fullest extent not prohibited by the
Delaware General Corporation Law, the Company is required to advance all
expenses incurred by its directors and executive officers in connection with a
legal proceeding (subject to certain exceptions), (iv) the rights conferred in
the Bylaws are not exclusive, (v) the Company is authorized to enter into
indemnification agreements with its directors, officers, employees and agents
and (vi) the Company may not retroactively amend the Bylaws provisions
relating to indemnity.
 
  The Company has entered into agreements with its directors and executive
officers that require the Company to indemnify such persons against expenses,
judgments, fines, settlements and other amounts that such person becomes
legally obligated to pay (including expenses of a derivative action) in
connection with any proceeding, whether actual or threatened, to which any
such person may be made a party by reason of the fact that such person is or
was a director or officer of the Company or any of its affiliated enterprises,
provided such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person
reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the
Company. The indemnification agreements also set forth certain procedures that
will apply in the event of a claim for indemnification thereunder.
 
  The Underwriting Agreement filed as Exhibit 1.1 to this Registration
Statement provides for indemnification by the Underwriters of the Registrant
and its officers and directors for certain liabilities arising under the
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or otherwise.
 
ITEM 15. RECENT SALES OF UNREGISTERED SECURITIES.
   
  Since June 1, 1995, the Registrant has sold and issued the following
unregistered securities:     
 
    (1) In July 1995, the Company sold 750,000 shares of the Company's Series
  C Preferred Stock for an aggregate purchase price of $5,000,000.
 
 
                                     II-1
<PAGE>
 
    (2) In October 1995, the Company issued, in connection with an equipment
  lease, a warrant to purchase 5,400 shares of Series C Preferred Stock at an
  exercise price of $6.67 per share.
 
    (3) In October 1996, the Company issued, in connection with equipment
  leases, a warrant to purchase 200 shares of Series B Preferred Stock at an
  exercise price of $1.80 per share and a warrant to purchase 4,600 shares of
  Series C Preferred Stock at an exercise price of $6.67.
 
    (4) In August and September 1997, the Company sold an aggregate of
  1,438,812 shares of Series D Preferred Stock to certain investors for an
  aggregate purchase price of $7,568,151.
 
    (5) In August 1997, the Company issued, in connection with an equipment
  lease, a warrant to purchase 7,843 shares of Series D Preferred Stock at an
  exercise price of $5.26 per share.
 
    (6) In October 1997, the Company issued, in connection with an equipment
  leases, warrants to purchase an aggregate of 21,863 shares of Series D
  Preferred Stock at an exercise price of $5.26 per share.
 
    (7) In October 1997, the Company issued an option to purchase 50,000
  shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $2.64 per share.
     
    (8) From June 1, 1995 to May 31, 1998, the Company granted stock options
  to employees, directors and consultants covering an aggregate of 10,497,110
  shares of the Company's Common Stock, at exercise prices varying from $0.18
  to $9.00. Of such shares, 2,996,810 shares have been issued and sold
  pursuant to the exercise of such options. Options to purchase 1,744,717
  shares of Common Stock have been canceled or have lapsed without being
  exercised or otherwise been canceled. Stock awards for an aggregate of
  17,932 shares were issued at purchase prices varying from $0.18 to $0.36.
      
  The Company claimed exemptions under the Securities Act from registration
under the Securities Act for the sale and issuance of securities in the
transaction described in paragraphs (1) through (7) by virtue of Section 4(2)
or Regulation D promulgated thereunder as transactions not involving public
offering. The purchasers in each case represented their intention to acquire
the securities for investment only and not with a view to the distribution
thereof. Appropriate legends are affixed to the stock certificates issued in
such transactions. All recipients either received adequate information about
the Registrant or had access, through employment or other relationships, to
such information.
 
  The sales and issuances in the transactions described in paragraph (8) above
were deemed to be exempt from registration under the Securities Act by virtue
of Rule 701 promulgated thereunder, in that they were issued pursuant to a
written compensatory benefit plan, as provided by Rule 701.
 
ITEM 16. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES.
 
  (a) EXHIBITS.
 
<TABLE>   
<CAPTION>
      EXHIBIT
      NUMBER                       DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENT
      -------                      -----------------------
     <C>       <S>
      1.1*     Form of Underwriting Agreement.
      3.1+     Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.
      3.2+     Bylaws of the Company.
      3.3+     Form of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be
                filed upon completion of this offering.
      4.1+     Reference is made to Exhibits 3.1 and 3.2.
      4.2+     Specimen Stock Certificate.
      4.3+     Second Amended and Restated Investors' Rights Agreement, dated
                August 19, 1997 between the Company and the parties indicated
                thereto.
      5.1*     Opinion of Cooley Godward LLP.
     10.1+     Form of Indemnity Agreement between Registrant and each of its
                directors and officers.
     10.2+     1998 Equity Incentive Plan.
     10.3+     Form of Incentive Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Equity
                Incentive Plan.
</TABLE>    
 
 
                                     II-2
<PAGE>
 
<TABLE>   
<CAPTION>
      EXHIBIT
      NUMBER                       DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENT
      -------                      -----------------------
     <C>       <S>
     10.4+     Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998
                Equity Incentive Plan.
     10.5+     1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
     10.6+     Form of Employee Stock Purchase Plan Offering.
     10.7+     1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan.
     10.8+     Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Non-
                Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (Initial Grant).
     10.9+     Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Non-
                Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (Annual Grant).
     10.10**   Strategic Collaboration Agreement dated November 10, 1993
                between the Company and ST Microelectronics, Inc., as amended
                on June 3, 1996 and January 27, 1998.
     10.11+    Sublease Agreement, dated February 16, 1995, between Amdahl
                Corporation and the Company, as amended on March 1, 1995 and
                September 1, 1995.
     10.12+    Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Non-
                Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (Committee Grant).
     23.1      Consent of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, Independent Auditors.
     23.2*     Consent of Cooley Godward llp (reference is made to Exhibit
                5.1).
     24.1+     Power of Attorney.
     27.1+     Financial Data Schedule.
</TABLE>    
- --------
  *To be filed by amendment.
  +Previously filed
   
 **Confidential treatment has been requested for portions of this document.
    
  (b) FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES.
 
  Schedules not listed above are omitted because they are not required, they
are not applicable or the information is already included in the financial
statements or notes thereto.
 
ITEM 17. UNDERTAKINGS.
 
  The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes to provide the Underwriters at
the closing specified in the Underwriting Agreement certificates in such
denominations and registered in such names as required by the Underwriters to
permit prompt delivery to each purchaser.
 
  Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act
of 1933 (the "Act") may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling
persons of the Registrant pursuant to the provisions described in Item 14, or
otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the
Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event
that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the
payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer,
or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any
action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or
controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the
Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been
settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate
jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public
policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication
of such issue.
 
                                     II-3
<PAGE>
 
  The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that: (1) for purposes of
determining any liability under the Act, the information omitted from the form
of prospectus as filed as part of the registration statement in reliance upon
Rule 430A and contained in the form of prospectus filed by the Registrant
pursuant to Rule 424(b)(1) or (4) or 497(h) under the Act shall be deemed to
be part of the registration statement as of the time it was declared
effective, (2) for the purpose of determining any liability under the Act,
each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be
deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered
therein, and this offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to
be the initial bona fide offering thereof, and (3) to remove from registration
by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered
which remain unsold at the termination of the offering.
 
                                     II-4
<PAGE>
 
                                  SIGNATURES
   
  PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, THE REGISTRANT
HAS CAUSED THIS REGISTRATION STATEMENT TO BE SIGNED ON ITS BEHALF BY THE
UNDERSIGNED, THEREUNTO DULY AUTHORIZED, IN THE CITY OF SUNNYVALE, STATE OF
CALIFORNIA, ON THE 5TH DAY OF JUNE 1998.     
 
                                          NVIDIA Corporation
 
                                                      Jen-Hsun Huang*
                                          By: _________________________________
                                                      Jen-Hsun Huang
                                            President, Chief Executive Officer
                                                       and Director
 
  PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, THIS
REGISTRATION STATEMENT HAS BEEN SIGNED BELOW BY THE FOLLOWING PERSONS IN THE
CAPACITIES AND ON THE DATES INDICATED.
 
<TABLE>   
<CAPTION>
             SIGNATURE                           TITLE                    DATE
             ---------                           -----                    ----
 
 
<S>                                  <C>                           <C>
         Jen-Hsun Huang*             President, Chief Executive       June 5, 1998
____________________________________  Officer and Director
          Jen-Hsun Huang              (Principal Executive
                                      Officer)
 
     /s/ Geoffrey G. Ribar           Chief Financial Officer          June 5, 1998
____________________________________  (Principal Financial and
         Geoffrey G. Ribar            Accounting Officer)
 
            Tench Coxe*              Director                         June 5, 1998
____________________________________
             Tench Coxe
 
       Harvey C. Jones, Jr.*         Director                         June 5, 1998
____________________________________
        Harvey C. Jones, Jr.
 
        William J. Miller*           Director                         June 5, 1998
____________________________________
         William J. Miller
 
        A. Brooke Seawell*           Director                         June 5, 1998
____________________________________
         A. Brooke Seawell
 
         Mark A. Stevens*            Director                         June 5, 1998
____________________________________
          Mark A. Stevens
 
       /s/ Geoffrey G. Ribar
*By: _______________________________
         Geoffrey G. Ribar
        As Attorney-In-Fact
</TABLE>    
 
                                     II-5
<PAGE>
 
                                 EXHIBIT INDEX
 
<TABLE>   
<CAPTION>
      EXHIBIT
      NUMBER                       DESCRIPTION OF DOCUMENT
      -------                      -----------------------
     <C>       <S>
      1.1*     Form of Underwriting Agreement.
      3.1+     Certificate of Incorporation of the Company.
      3.2+     Bylaws of the Company.
      3.3+     Form of Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation to be
                filed upon completion of this offering.
      4.1+     Reference is made to Exhibits 3.1 and 3.2.
      4.2+     Specimen Stock Certificate.
      4.3+     Second Amended and Restated Investors' Rights Agreement, dated
                August 19, 1997 between the Company and the parties indicated
                thereto.
      5.1*     Opinion of Cooley Godward llp.
     10.1+     Form of Indemnity Agreement between Registrant and each of its
               directors and officers.
     10.2+     1998 Equity Incentive Plan.
     10.3+     Form of Incentive Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Equity
               Incentive Plan.
     10.4+     Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998
                Equity Incentive Plan.
     10.5+     1998 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
     10.6+     Form of Employee Stock Purchase Plan Offering.
     10.7+     1998 Non-Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan.
     10.8+     Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Non-
                Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (Initial Grant).
     10.9+     Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Non-
                Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (Annual Grant).
     10.10**   Strategic Collaboration Agreement dated November 10, 1993
                between the Company and ST Microelectronics, Inc., as amended
                on June 3, 1996 and January 27, 1998.
     10.11+    Sublease Agreement, dated February 16, 1995, between Amdahl
                Corporation and the Company, as amended on March 1, 1995 and
                September 1, 1995.
     10.12+    Form of Nonstatutory Stock Option Agreement under the 1998 Non-
                Employee Directors' Stock Option Plan (Committee Grant).
     23.1      Consent of KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, Independent Auditors.
     23.2*     Consent of Cooley Godward llp (reference is made to Exhibit
                5.1).
     24.1+     Power of Attorney.
     27.1+     Financial Data Schedule.
</TABLE>    
- --------
  *To be filed by amendment.
  +Previously filed
   
 **Confidential treatment has been requested for portions of this document.
    

<PAGE>
 
                                                                   EXHIBIT 10.10
               
                       STRATEGIC COLLABORATION AGREEMENT

This Strategic Collaboration Agreement between SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics,
Inc., a Delaware corporation ("SGS-THOMSON"), and NVidia Corporation, a
California corporation ("NVidia"), is entered into this 10th day of November
1993.

                                   OVERVIEW

The parties are entering into this Agreement with the purpose of establishing a
leadership position for graphics and multimedia controller products in the
personal computer market.  The collaboration is intended to exploit the
potential of the NV multimedia architecture and to implement products being
developed by NVidia by combining NVidia's strengths in semiconductor design,
with SGS-THOMSON's strengths in semiconductor manufacturing, marketing and
sales.  Initially, NVidia will take lead responsibility for finalizing
architecture and initial product designs, and SGS-THOMSON will take lead
responsibility in product manufacturability. The parties will then join in
introducing and marketing graphics and multimedia controller products into the
personal computer market.  SGS-THOMSON will market the NV1-D64 graphics
controller with DRAM interface for high volume, medium performance applications
in the personal computer market and NVidia will market the NV1-V32 graphics
controller with VRAM interface for high performance graphics applications in the
personal computer market.

Subsequently, future generations of products will be designed by NVidia, with
SGS-THOMSON addressing the high volume, medium performance demands of the
personal computer market and NVidia concentrating on the smaller, high
performance range of the personal computer market.

The following definitions shall apply for purposes of this Agreement:
PC Graphics Controller Market.  PC graphics controller market means unit
shipments for desktop and laptop applications.

Volume Product.  A NVidia product is a Volume Product if unit shipments of the
applicable NVidia product and products with similar memory interface
specifications have exceeded 20% of the PC graphics controller market for two
successive quarters, and if unit shipments of such product(s) are projected to
exceed 33% of the PC graphics controller market during the next two successive
quarters, as determined by the simple mathematical average of IDC, J Peddie and
Associates and Dataquest market forecasts, or by such other method as the
parties may agree upon from time to time.

Net Sales.  Net sales means SGS-THOMSON gross sales less sales to NVidia, SGS-
THOMSON intercompany transactions and net of trade and quantity discounts or
rebates, returns and cash discounts or rebates allowed and taken.

In consideration of the mutual representations, warranties, and covenants set
forth below, and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and
sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties, intending to be
legally bound, hereby agree as follows:

                                      1.
<PAGE>
 
I.   DESIGN WORK

A.   NVidia to Develop NV Architecture and NV1-D64 and NV1-V32 Products.  NVidia
will use its reasonable best efforts to complete the design of the NV graphics
architecture and of the two initial products, NV1-D64 and NV1-V32, according to
the specifications described in Exhibit A.

B.   NVidia to Develop Future NV Products.  NVidia will use its reasonable best
efforts during the balance of the term of this Agreement to design future
products compliant with the NV architecture for SGS-THOMSON and for NVidia with
the objective of maintaining a product leadership position based upon NV
architecture, with SGS-THOMSON continuing to address the high volume, medium
performance sector of the market, and with NVidia continuing to address the
smaller segment of the market utilizing high performance graphics controllers.

C.   Technology Transfer.  NVidia will provide technical assistance reasonably
requested by SGS-THOMSON to transfer the NV architecture and product technology.

II.  SGS-THOMSON ACQUISITION OF OPTION TO WORLDWIDE LICENSE

A.   Option to Exclusive License of NV1-D64 and Nonexclusive License of NV
Architecture.  Upon the signing of this Agreement and the concurrent payment of
$500,000 to NVidia by SGS-THOMSON, SGS-THOMSON shall have obtained an option
from NVidia to acquire (i) a worldwide, exclusive, perpetual license to make,
have made, use and sell the NV1-D64, and (ii) a worldwide, nonexclusive,
perpetual license to make, have made, design, have designed, use, and sell
semiconductor devices utilizing the NV architecture.  The license to the NV
architecture described in (ii) in the preceding sentence is expressly
conditioned upon SGS-THOMSON not modifying, extending or enhancing the
architecture except (i) in accordance with the terms of Exhibit B, or (ii) upon
the prior written approval of NVidia.

B.   Option to Exclusive License of Future NV Products.  All NV products
developed by NVidia during the term of this Agreement shall be disclosed to SGS-
THOMSON by NVidia during product definition.  If SGS-THOMSON shall have
exercised its option to acquire a license to the NV1-D64 pursuant to III.A,
NVidia shall offer SGS-THOMSON an option to acquire a license to such future NV
products, other than future NV products reserved by NVidia which are other than
a Volume Product (such as a product for high performance graphics applications
targeted at the high performance segment of the personal computer graphics
controller market), upon the same terms and conditions as the license granted to
SGS-THOMSON for the NV1-D64.  Upon the payment of $500,000 to NVidia by SGS-
THOMSON within 60 days after delivery by NVidia to SGS-THOMSON of written
specifications for such future NV product, SGS-THOMSON shall have obtained an
option to acquire a license on the same terms and conditions as the license
granted to SGS-THOMSON for the NV1-D64.

                                      2.
<PAGE>
 
III. EXERCISE OF OPTION AND ACQUISITION OF LICENSES

A.   NV1-D64 and NV Architecture.  SGS-THOMSON may exercise its option to obtain
the license to the NV architecture and NV1-D64 any time prior to 30 days after
delivery by SGS-THOMSON to NVidia of the ASIC prototype for the NV1-D64 (the
"Option Period").  NVidia shall promptly evaluate the ASIC prototype and
communicate the results of such evaluation to SGS-THOMSON within 10 days of
receipt of the ASIC prototype.  If the parties agree in good faith that the
evaluation is inconclusive, the Option Period shall be extended until a new ASIC
has been evaluated.  To exercise the option and acquire the NV1-D64 license,
SGS-THOMSON shall pay NVidia $2,000,000 as follows:  $1,000,000 upon exercise of
the option, $500,000 on August 1, 1994 or exercise of the option if later, and
$500,000 on November 1, 1994 or exercise of the option if later.

B.   Future NV Products.  SGS-THOMSON may exercise its option to obtain the
license to a future NV product during the term of the Agreement any time prior
to 30 days after delivery of the ASIC prototype for such future NV product (the
"Future Option Period").  NVidia shall promptly evaluate the ASIC prototype and
communicate the results of such evaluation to SGS-THOMSON within 10 days of
receipt of the ASIC prototype.  If the parties agree in good faith that the
evaluation is inconclusive, the Future Option Period shall be extended until a
new ASIC has been evaluated.  To exercise the option and acquire a future NV
product license, SGS-THOMSON shall pay NVidia $1,000,000 upon exercise of the
option.

IV.  CONTINGENT CO-EXCLUSIVE LICENSE

A.   Co-Exclusive License to NVidia Products.  If SGS-THOMSON shall have
exercised its option to acquire a license to the NV1-D64 pursuant to III.A., and
the NV1-V32 or a future NV product previously reserved by NVidia becomes a
Volume Product, then SGS-THOMSON shall have obtained an option to acquire a
worldwide, co-exclusive (with NVidia), perpetual license to make, have made,
sell and use such product(s) exercisable upon payment of a $1,500,000 license
fee ($0 license fee in the case of the first NV high performance product
expected to be called NV1-V32) by SGS-THOMSON to NVidia within 90 days after the
applicable NV product became a Volume Product.

V.    ROYALTIES

A. NV1-D64. If SGS-THOMSON shall have exercised its option to acquire a
license to the NV1-D64 pursuant to III.A and further elects to sell the NV1-
D64, SGS-THOMSON shall pay the following royalties on its Net Sales of the NV1-
D64: 1st 1 million units - [*]; next 2 million units - [*]; next 5 million
units - [*]; next 10 million units - [*]; [*] royalties shall be payable on
sales in excess of 18 million units. Royalties shall be calculated on a
quarterly basis, shall be payable to NVidia 45 days following the close of a
quarter, shall be accompanied by written reports of sales during the prior
quarter and shall be subject to independent audit no more frequently than once
a year.


[*] Certain information on this page has been omitted and filed separately with
    the Commission. Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to
    the omitted portions.

                                      3.
<PAGE>
 
B.   Future NV Products.  If SGS-THOMSON shall have exercised its option to
acquire a license to a future NV product pursuant to III.B. and further elects
to sell such future NV product, the same royalty schedule and procedure set
forth in V.A shall apply to all Net Sales of future NV products, except that the
royalty rate on the first 1 million units of Net Sales by SGS-THOMSON shall be
[*].

C.   SGS-THOMSON Products Using NV Architecture.  For products designed by SGS-
THOMSON which employ the NV architecture, the royalty schedule shall be a
percentage of the rates specified for future NV products determined by dividing
the intellectual property value contributed by NVidia by the total intellectual
property value of the product as agreed in good faith by the parties or, in the
absence of agreement, as determined by a reputable independent graphics
controller expert selected in good faith by the parties.

VI.  RELATED PRODUCTS AND PREPARATION FOR MANUFACTURE

A.   ASIC Development.  SGS-THOMSON will use its reasonable best efforts at its
expense for ASIC development and fabrication for the NV1-D64 and NV1-V32
according to the specifications and schedule attached as Exhibit C.  SGS-THOMSON
will use its reasonable best efforts at its expense for ASIC development and
Fabrication for future NV products which are intended as Volume Products.  SGS-
THOMSON will also use its reasonable best efforts at its expense for ASIC
development and fabrication of up to two future NV products per year which are
not intended as Volume Products.  Any other ASIC development funded by NVidia
will be provided to NVidia by SGS-THOMSON at most favored customer pricing
during the term of this Agreement.

B.   Video DAC's.  SGS-THOMSON will use its reasonable best efforts to develop
at its expense video DAC(s) for the NV1-D64 and the NV1-V32 according to the
specifications and schedule specified in Exhibit D.

VII. MANUFACTURE

A.   NV Products and DAC Manufacture.  SGS-THOMSON will use its reasonable best
efforts to manufacture and sell to NVidia all NV products and related DAC's in
response to orders delivered to SGS-THOMSON, provided such orders are consistent
with NVidia 12 month projections provided to SGS-THOMSON by July 31, 1994 and
updated in writing at least quarterly.  Orders in excess of projections shall be
filled by SGS-THOMSON as soon as reasonably practicable.  NVidia shall use SGS-
THOMSON standard purchase order forms.  NVidia shall be given most favored
customer pricing for similar products provided on a similar basis to other SGS-
THOMSON customers irrespective of the volume of products ordered by NVidia
pursuant to the Agreement.  Should SGS-THOMSON decline to exercise an option to
license a Volume Product under III, SGS-THOMSON's manufacturing and pricing
obligations under this section VII shall terminate one year thereafter.  SGS-
THOMSON shall retain last-time buy options consistent with its standard policy.


[*] Certain information on this page has been omitted and filed separately with
    the Commission. Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to
    the omitted portions.

                                      4.
<PAGE>
 
B.    Line of Credit.  SGS-THOMSON shall establish a $1 million revolving line
of credit for NVidia orders placed during the term of this Agreement, secured by
NVidia receivables arising from the resale of such products in amounts
consistent with SGS-THOMSON standard security requirements for such lines of
credit. The credit shall be repaid as funds are received with respect to such
receivables; however, in no event later than 120 days following the issuance of
such credit.

VIII. MARKETING SUPPORT

A.    SGS-THOMSON.  SGS-THOMSON shall use its reasonable best efforts to
commercialize products licensed to it by NVidia hereunder and shall be
responsible at its expense for developing marketing materials and for all
marketing preparation through product launch for the NV1-D64 and NV1-V32.
Attached hereto as Exhibit E is a marketing plan which is illustrative of the
type and scope of marketing plan to be implemented by SGS-THOMSON.  If SGS-
THOMSON does not acquire the license to the NV1-D64 pursuant to III.A, SGS-
THOMSON shall have no obligations under this paragraph VIII.A.

B.    Joint Marketing Support.  The parties will establish a Joint Marketing
Committee no later than July 1, 1994 consisting of a least one senior marketing
executive from each company to coordinate the use of common marketing materials.
The Committee will have no legal authority or standing and will act solely in an
advisory capacity; however, the parties agree to cooperate in good faith with
the Committee.

IX.   SOFTWARE LICENSE AND SUPPORT

A.    Software License.  SGS-THOMSON shall have access to, and a worldwide,
nonexclusive, perpetual license to, use and modify the source code for device
drivers and BIOS for any product licensed by NVidia to SGS-THOMSON pursuant to
this Agreement and for any SGS-THOMSON product using NV architecture in
accordance with V.C.  The license to the source code for the device drivers and
BIOS includes the right to modify such software for use with any device driver
or BIOS without charge except for royalties due on the related semiconductor
device pursuant to V., provided NVidia shall have the right without charge to
use any such modification or improvement in other NV products.

B.    Software Support. NVidia will provide continuing software support for each
product being sold by SGS-THOMSON as specified in Exhibit F. If for products
after NV1-D64, NVidia can objectively show that the royalties payable are not
sufficient to cover the costs of such software support and a reasonable return
(5% of SGS-THOMSON net sales) on the new products, then NVidia shall be
permitted an appropriate software maintenance charge which shall be applied to
subsequent sales of the product at issue if SGS-THOMSON approves, which approval
shall not be unreasonably withheld.

                                      5.
<PAGE>
 
X.   THIRD PARTY LICENSES

A.   Third Party Licenses.  The parties realize that a license to manufacture
one or more of the products covered by the Agreement to a large PC manufacturer
for internal use may be in the best interests of both parties.  In such
instance, both parties agree to work cooperatively to develop mutually
acceptable license terms.

XI.  TERM

A.   Term.  The term of the Agreement shall be 3 years, unless extended by
mutual written agreement of the parties, provided that the royalty,
confidentiality and software support obligations under this Agreement shall
continue during the terms of the licenses, and that the manufacturing and
pricing obligations shall continue in accordance with VIII.  Once effective,
licenses shall continue during the life of the underlying NVidia patents,
copyrights or trademarks.  The line of credit in VII.B shall not be applicable
to any extensions of this Agreement.

XII. MISCELLANEOUS.

A.   Key Personnel.  SGS-THOMSON shall assign the key personnel specified in
Exhibit G to this collaboration for the periods and purposes specified.

B.   Governing Law.  This Agreement shall be governed by Delaware law.

C.   Injunctive Relief.  The parties acknowledge that a breach of the Agreement
regarding architectural compliance cannot adequately be compensated for with
monetary damages and that should such a breach occur, injunctive relief would be
an appropriate remedy.

D.   Confidentiality.  Confidential information shared or learned by either
party in the performance of this Agreement shall be protected by the receiving
party according to the rules which such receiving party applies to its own
confidential information.

E.   Assignment to Parent or Controlled Affiliates.  SGS-THOMSON may assign its
rights hereunder to its (i) parent, (ii) affiliates in which SGS-THOMSON's
parent owns, either directly or indirectly, at least 67% of such affiliate,
and/or (iii) affiliates in which SGS-THOMSON's parent owns, either directly or
indirectly, at least 51% of such affiliate if such ownership structure is
necessary for a material domestic presence in a geographical market in which
SGS-THOMSON (or its parent or affiliates) does not currently have a material
domestic presence and such presence is required for the marketing and sale of
products licensed hereunder.

F.   Technology Representation.  To the best of its knowledge without having
conducted any special investigation or patent search, NVidia owns or possesses
sufficient legal rights to all patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets,
license, information and proprietary rights and processes (the "Intellectual
Property") necessary to enter into and to perform its obligations under this
Agreement without any conflict with, or infringement of the rights of, others.

                                      6.
<PAGE>
 
G.   Technology Cooperation.  During the term of this Agreement, NVidia and SGS-
THOMSON shall cooperate in conducting patent searches and the like to determine
whether any of the Intellectual Property potentially conflicts with, or
infringes, the rights of others.  If any such search determines a potential
conflict or infringement, NVidia and SGS-THOMSON shall cooperate to eliminate
such potential conflict or infringement from the intellectual property.

H.   Insolvency and Asset Sale.  In the event NVidia becomes insolvent and
thereafter chooses to sell all or a portion of its assets other than in the
ordinary course of business, to the extent permitted by law, SGS-THOMSON shall
be given the opportunity to match any reasonable offer for any asset offered for
sale by NVidia.  In the event NVidia receives no offers, or no reasonable
offers, SGS-THOMSON shall be given the opportunity to purchase any such asset
for its fair market value.  If NVidia and SGS-THOMSON cannot agree on the fair
market value of a particular asset, an independent, reputable appraiser
knowledgeable in the graphics controller market shall determine the value of the
particular asset.

In witness whereof, the parties have executed this Agreement as of the date set
forth above.

NVidia Corporation                            SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc.
Microelectronics, Inc.


By /s/ Jen-Hsun Huang                         By /s/ Giancarlo Ronzi 
  --------------------                          --------------------
  Jen-Hsun Huang                                Giancarlo Ronzi 
  President and Chief Executive Officer         Vice President
                                                Semicustom Products
                                      
                                      7.
<PAGE>
 

                                   EXHIBIT A

I.   NV1-V32 and NV1-D64 Functionality and Performance Targets


The design targets for NV1 (V32 and D64) are substantially outlined in the 
following pages. These targets are the result of performance analysis of the NV 
architecture and algorithms.

II.  NVidia Deliverables

The following deliverables will be provided to SGS-THOMSON as they become
available.
 
1.   NV Architectural Specification

     The NV Architecture specifies the visible interface by which applications
     communicate to chips which embody the NV Architecture. An application which
     follows the protocol and semantics specified by the NV Architecture can
     access the capabilities of the chip. Version 1 of the NV Architecture
     Specification was published October 20, 1993. The NV Architecture and
     Specification is still in the process of refinement and is expected to be
     finalized by June 1, 1994.

2.   NV1-D64 Deliverables

     - Functionality and interface Specification

     - Design source, including:
          Verilog HDL source
          Synopsys synthesis scripts
          Design netlist
          Functional verification suits
          Timing analysis scripts

     - Information for ASIC manufacturing, including:
          Chip floorplan
          Package bonding diagram
          Test patterns

     - Evaluation board (Schematics & BOM)
     - BIOS
     - device drivers for Windows 3.1
     (Other device drivers will be delivered as available. The order of priority
     will be driven by NVidia and ST marketing. The default order will be 
     Windows 4.0, Windows NT, then OS/2)

3.   NV1-V32 Deliverables

     - Information for ASIC manufacturing, including:
          Design netlist
          Chip floorplan 
          Package bonding diagram
          Text patterns
          Timing analysis script




<PAGE>
 
         Exhibit B: Definitions of Architectural Compliant Extensions

SGS-Thomson will be granted rights to develop derivative products based on the
NV architecture so long as architectural compliance is adhered to. The process
for developing architectural extensions is as follows:

1.  The design will comply with the NV Architectural Specification.
2.  A new class (functionality) extension to the NV architecture must comply
    with the rules of virtualization as specified by the architecture.
3.  Each new class will be registered with NVidia and will be assigned a unique 
    class ID number.



<PAGE>
 
                     Exhibit C: ASIC Development Milestone

The NV1-V32 development milestone is attached. The V32 is architected and
designed in such a way as to enable the maximum amount of design reuse with
NV1-D64. The final product specification of D64 is still pending input from SGS-
THOMSON. A detailed schedule will be provided once the final architecture of D64
and DAC is completed. The goal is to deliver first prototype of D64
approximately 2 months after that of V32, FCS approximately 1 month after V32,
and product introduction at the same time.


<PAGE>
 
                    EXHIBIT D:  DAC DEVELOPMENT AND SCHEDULE
                                        
The DAC architecture is tightly coupled to the architecture of NV1-D64 and NV1-
V32.  Numerous tradeoffs between price, performance, and functionality need to
be jointly made between NVidia and SGS-THOMSON.

NVidia will work with SGS-THOMSON to fully define and specify the NV1 DAC and
accelerator architectures.  SGS-THOMSON is committed to deploy the necessary
engineering and marketing resources to accommodate this schedule.  Both
companies will make best efforts to ensure expeditious development and
fabrication of NV1 DAC(s).

                                       
<PAGE>
 
Exhibit E

 
                             Marketing Deliverables
                                        
The marketing plan attached is illustrative of the type and scope of marketing
plan to be implemented by SGS-THOMSON.  Deliverables from SGS-THOMSON to NVidia
will include:

o  Printing and Artwork for a reasonable no of NV1 product datasheets, NV
   Architectural Backgrounders, S/W writers guide, Application Notes, NV1
   Brochures.
o  Organisation of NV1 Press Launch in US, Taiwan and Tokyo, including booking
   venues, inviting journalists and preparing Press Packs.
o  Organisation of ISV camp including booking venue and printing training
   material.
o  Any Demo Software that SGS-THOMSON produces internally or sub-contracts
   (NVidia will supply to SGS-THOMSON any demo software that NVidia produces).
o  Use of guest suite that SGS-THOMSON rents at trade shows (including COMDEX)
   for the purpose of promoting NV products.

Printed material will be delivered to NVidia for NVidia to distribute to its
customers.

NV1 MARKETING PLAN
- ------------------

OBJECTIVES
- ----------

MAJOR STRATEGIES
- ----------------

SGS-THOMSON SALES & MARKETING SUPPORT FOR NV
- --------------------------------------------

KEY ACCOUNT TARGETING
- ---------------------

KEY PROMOTIONAL MESSAGES OF NV
- ------------------------------

MEDIA STRATEGIE
- ---------------

TECHNICAL/APPLICATIONS SUPPORT
- ------------------------------

ACTION ACTIVITY PLAN
- --------------------

PRIOR TO LAUNCH DATE

FIRST 30 DAYS AFTER LAUNCH

FIRST 60 DAYS AFTER LAUNCH

                                       
<PAGE>
 
                  EXHIBIT F:  SOFTWARE SUPPORT AND MAINTENANCE
                                        
NVidia will provide on-going software support and maintenance to SGS-THOMSON as
reasonably expected.  It is expected that SGS-THOMSON will provide the necessary
support for its own customers.  The software maintenance service is as follows.

1.   Support for x86 platforms.
2.   Major operating system device drivers will be provided on a best effort and
     prioritized basis.  The OS drivers currently planned, in order of priority,
     are Windows3.1, Windows4.0, NT, and OS/2 2.0.
3.   BIOS support for desktop platforms.
4.   Windows3.1 and BIOS will be available at prototype.
5.   NVidia will release timely and regular software updates to SGS-THOMSON.
     SGS-THOMSON will receive software updates no later than NVidia customers.
6.   NVidia will keep available assistance to SGS-THOMSON between 8:00AM and
     6:00PM, prevailing local time, Monday through Friday (excluding NVidia
     recognized holidays).
7.   NVidia will provide appropriate assistance to SGS-THOMSON within a
     reasonable period after ST adequately describe and/or document the problem.
8.   Enhancements requested by ST that are agreed upon by NVidia will be
     provided at a reasonably negotiated price.
9.   NVidia is planning to develop application-specific interfaces for strategic
     applications such as Adobe Photoshop and AutoCAD.  To the extent that
     NVidia can legally do so, NVidia will make available to SGS-THOMSON these
     DDA (Direct-Device Access) drivers under favorite customer terms.

                                       
<PAGE>
 
         EXHIBIT G: KEY SGS-THOMSON PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO COLLABORATION
                                        

SGS-THOMSON initially expects to assign people and locations to the
collaboration as follows.  During the collaboration SGS-THOMSON will continue to
review the requirements of the program and assign people based on circumstances
at any given time.

<TABLE>
<CAPTION>
 
Position                       Period            Location
<S>                            <C>               <C>
 
Marketing Manager              Full Time         San Jose
Graphics Architect             Full Time         San Jose
Designer 1 DAC                 Full Time         Bristol
Designer 2 DAC                 Full Time         Bristol
Designer 3 DAC                 Full Time         Bristol
Designer 1 Controller          Full Time         San Jose
Designer 2 Controller          Full Time         San Jose
Application Engineer 1         Full Time         San Jose
Application Engineer 2         Full Time         San Jose
Product Engineer               Full Time         San Jose (for three months 
                                                   then Bristol)
ASIC Support Engineer          Full Time         Dallas/San Jose
</TABLE>

In addition to the personnel listed above, who will be allocated to the program
initially, further personnel from SGS-THOMSON, mainly based in Dallas and
Bristol, will be allocated to the program as it becomes appropriate.

                                       
<PAGE>
 
                           AMENDMENT AND EXTENSION
                                      TO 
                       STRATEGIC COLLABORATION AGREEMENT


This Amendment and Extension to Strategic Collaboration Agreement between SGS-
THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc., a Delaware corporation ("ST"), and NVIDIA
Corporation, a California corporation ("NVIDIA"), is entered into this 3rd day
of June 1996 (hereinafter the "Amendment").

WHEREAS, ST and NVIDIA entered into that certain Strategic Collaboration 
Agreement dated November 10, 1993 (the "Original Agreement");

WHEREAS, the Original Agreement expires by its terms on November 10, 1996;

WHEREAS, ST and NVIDIA each wish to develop a next generation multimedia
accelerator product (hereinafter the "Next Generation Product") and desire to
work together in the design of such product, and

WHEREAS, ST and NVIDIA each wish to amend and extend the Original Agreement in 
order to jointly develop such Next Generation Product.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual representations, warranties and
covenants set forth below, and for other good and valuable consideration, the
receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, the parties, intending to be legally
bound, hereby agree as follows.

1.   PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

ST and NVIDIA have each independently defined a Next Generation Product using
the NV architecture developed by NVIDIA and licensed to ST in the Original
Agreement. ST's defined product (hereinafter "STG3000") is an alternative
version of the product defined by NVIDIA as the NV3 (hereinafter the "NV3").

1.1. PRODUCT DESIGN. NVIDIA will be responsible for the development of the core
technology comprising the NV3 and the STG3000 (hereinafter the "Core
Technology"). NVIDIA will make reasonable best efforts to design the NV3 in such
a way as to permit the ST to use the Core Technology to easily modify the NV3 to
meet the definition of the STG3000. Although the STG3000 is defined as the NV3
without audio functionality, the audio technology included within the NV3 is
included within the Core Technology. NVIDIA will use its reasonable best effort
to (i) design the NV3 to emulate the STG3000 by using a bonding option, and (ii)
design the NV3 so that ST may recombine some or all of the Core Technology
within the NV3 in order to produce a cost optimized version of the STG3000. ST
will use its reasonable best efforts to design the STG3000 in such a way that it
can be emulated by the NV3. In addition, ST will direct its Graphics Business
Unit ("GBU") engineering resources to the development of the Core

                                       1

<PAGE>
 
Technology (including the STG3000 emulated NV3) as a priority over ST's
development of the STG3001 or any other GBU project.

2.   PRODUCT MARKETING

ST and NVIDIA will each use their reasonable best efforts to support each
other's product development and to get their respective products to market as
soon as reasonably practical. To that end, ST and NVIDIA will co-operate to
concurrently produce silicon samples of the NV3 and the NV3 emulated version of
the STG3000. Each company will independently market, promote, sample, price and
sell their respective products.

3.   NVIDIA GRANT OF TECHNOLOGY LICENSES

3.1  ST TO OBTAIN LICENSE. The license fee for the Core Technology will be
$2,500,000 and will be payable as follows: (i) $1,000,000 upon final execution
of this Amendment, (ii) $500,000 at tapeout of the NV3 product acceptable to ST,
and (iii) $1,000,000 at the production of a prototype of the NV3 product
acceptable to ST. Only upon final payment shall ST have acquired the license.
All license payments shall be non-refundable. In the event ST finds the tapeout
or prototype of the NV3 unacceptable and therefore does not pay the
corresponding payment, ST shall nevertheless continue to be obligated to comply
with the other provisions of this Amendment regarding product development and
manufacturing specifically including, but not limited to, paragraphs 3.4 and
3.6.

3.2  ST EXERCISE OF LICENSE. Upon final payment of the licenses fee described in
paragraph 3.1, ST shall have obtained from NVIDIA, a worldwide, non-exclusive,
perpetual license to make, have made, use and sell (without the right to
sublicense) and to otherwise fully exploit the Core Technology or any portions
thereof as part of a product that ST may manufacture or have manufactured.
Notwithstanding the foregoing grant of license, ST shall be prohibited from (i)
using or selling the NV3 product in the form defined by NVIDIA, and (ii)
modifying, extending, or enhancing the NVIDIA architecture except with the prior
written consent of NVIDIA, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld.

3.3 ST EXISTING LICENSES. Except as specifically provided in this Amendment,
nothing herein shall modify the product, technology, and software licenses
obtained by ST in the Original Agreement. As such, and for clarification
purposes, ST shall remain (i) the exclusive licensee to the NV1-D64 product
developed by NVIDIA, (ii) a non-exclusive licensee to the NV architecture
technology developed by NVIDIA, and (iii) a non-exclusive licensee to the
software developed and/or licensed by NVIDIA for device drivers and BIOS and all
NV architecture based products licensed by ST or developed by ST. The terms of
the Original Agreement shall continue to govern such licenses. In addition, for
clarification purposes, NVIDIA hereby acknowledges that such licenses are in no
way limited as to market/product segment and consequently ST has unlimited
rights to sell the NV1-D64 product, and any other NV

                                       2
<PAGE>
 
architecture based products ST designs or has designed for it, in any market 
segment without limitation.

  3.4  NVIDIA RECEIPT OF LICENSE. Upon execution of this agreement NVIDIA shall 
have obtained from ST a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual 
license to make, have made, use and sell the Video and Graphics DAC technology
and otherwise fully exploit such Video and Graphics DAC technology, with right 
to sublicense, provided such technology forms an integral part of a larger NV 
architecture based product designed by NVIDIA.

  3.5  NVIDIA DELIVERABLES. NVIDIA will transfer to ST all pertinent 
specifications and know how generated by NVIDIA regarding the Core Technology in
the form reasonably requested by ST upon tape-out of the NV3. NVIDIA will
provide reasonable technical assistance necessary for ST to use the Core
Technology independent of NVIDIA, specifically including the information and
know how reasonably required by ST to design a cost optimized version of the
STG3000. In addition, in compliance with paragraph I.C. of the Original 
Agreement, NVIDIA will transfer to ST (I) all specifications and know how 
generated by NVIDIA regarding the NV1-D64 product, and (II) all specifications 
and know how reasonably required by ST to design products using the NV 
architecture. The information shall be transferred to ST in a form reasonably 
requested by ST. NVIDIA shall be obligated to transfer any subsequent 
specifications and know how developed by NVIDIA as they relate to the Core 
Technology through December 31st, 1997.

  3.6  ST DELIVERABLES. ST will transfer to NVIDIA all pertinent specifications 
and know how generated by ST regarding the Video and Graphics DAC technology 
and the NV3 physical design in the form reasonably requested by NVIDIA upon 
tape-out of the NV3. ST will provide reasonable technical assistance necessary 
for NVIDIA to use the Video and Graphics DAC technology independent of ST. The 
information will be transferred to NVIDIA in a form reasonably requested by 
NVIDIA. ST shall be obligated to transfer any subsequent specifications and know
how of the Video and Graphics DAC technology through December 31st, 1997.

  3.7  THIRD PARTY MANUFACTURE CONFIDENTIALITY PROVISIONS. Notwithstanding each 
party's foregoing grant of have made rights, in order to exercise such right,
the party intending to exercise such rights shall be required to (i) provide
written notice of the other party's ownership of the licensed technology, and
(ii) include the owner of such licensed technology as a third party beneficiary
to any confidentiality agreement between the party and such third party
manufacturer. The execution of such confidentiality agreement shall be condition
precedent to the exercise of the have made rights herein. ST shall have no
obligation to comply with such restriction when exercising its have made right
with a worldwide affiliate.

4.     PRODUCT SUPPORT TO ST

  4.1  SOFTWARE, QA, AND DEVELOPER MARKETING. In consideration of its payment
of $1,000,000 in 1996 and $750,000 in 1997. ST will be entitled to receive the 
benefits of NVIDIA's efforts in developing the NV3 and STG3000 products using
the Core Technology

                                       3
<PAGE>
 
during 1996 and the first half of 1997 as referenced in Exhibit A. ST shall pay 
such amounts as follows: (i) $500,000 upon final execution of this agreement, 
(ii) $250,000 on July 1st 1996, (iii) $250,000 on October 1st 1996, (iv) 
$375,000 on January 2nd 1997, and (v) $375,000 on April 1st 1997. Throughout 
1996 NVIDIA shall provide support in software engineering, product/quality 
assurance engineering and developer marketing. From January 2nd 1997 to June
30th 1997, NVIDIA shall provide support for software engineering and developer
marketing. NVIDIA will provide ST such support on the same basis and in the same
time frame as it provides such benefits to itself. For example, ST shall receive
software releases for the STG3000 concurrent with that for the NV3, to the
extent that the two versions of the software are binary compatible. Any
additional product support other than as listed or described on Exhibit A shall
be upon the agreement of the parties; provided either ST or NVIDIA may take
additional actions independent from the other.

  4.2   TRADE SHOWS / OTHER MARKETING EVENTS. ST and NVIDIA anticipate that 
they will from time to time share the costs of trade shows and other specific 
marketing efforts which are jointly developed or approved by both NVIDIA and ST.

5.      DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT

  5.1   NVIDIA CONTRIBUTION. NVIDIA will be responsible for the cost of 
engineering, tools, and computers for the design, synthesis, and verification 
phase of development of the NV3 product.

  5.2   ST CONTRIBUTION. ST will be responsible for the cost of engineering, 
tools, and computers for the layout and back-end phase of development and will 
also be responsible for the cost of mask making and prototyping for up to two 
full and one metal prototype runs for the NV3 and projected NVIDIA designed 
mixed signal device, provided however that if the root cause of any prototype 
failure is jointly agreed to be ST's fault, the mask making and prototyping to 
correct such fault shall be ST's sole expense, and shall be in addition to the 
two full and one metal prototype run described herein. ST shall obtain and 
provide three Cadence design kits for use in NVIDIA's design and development of 
its mixed signal device. ST shall be responsible for the cost of the Cadence 
design kits through the earlier to occur of (i) NVIDIA 's completion of the 
design of the mixed signal device, or (ii) December 31st, 1997.

  5.3   EQUAL CONTRIBUTION. ST and NVIDIA shall share equally the cost of 
third party FIB repair for the NV3.

6.      MANUFACTURING CAPACITY AND PRICING

  6.1   RESERVATION OF CAPACITY. ST reserves capacity of up to 1.5 million units
for NV3 for 1997 for the technologies, price and time matrix shown in paragraph 
6.4, pursuant to ST's standard terms and conditions of sale, and additional 
terms contained in this Agreement.
                                                  
                                       4
<PAGE>
 
6.2 USE OF RESERVED CAPACITY. In order to claim the reserved capacity at the
agreed upon pricing NVIDIA must provide ST with a monthly rolling 26 week
forecast of its expected product requirements. The initial 4 weeks of such
forecast shall be considered a firm order and consequently NVIDIA will be
required to issue purchase orders for such amount on a monthly basis. The next 8
weeks shall be considered a firm but modifiable order in which NVIDIA will be
entitled to increase or decrease the order by 50% (up to the time it falls
within the initial 4 week period of a forecast) and consequently NVIDIA shall be
required to issue purchase orders for such amount on a monthly basis. The
remaining 14 weeks of the forecast shall be for planning purposes only and shall
require no purchase order.
 
6.3  The only consequence of the failure by NVIDIA to place orders as described
above shall be that ST shall no longer be required to reserve capacity for such 
unplaced orders.

6.4  PRICE MATRIX FOR NV3. ST agrees to manufacture and sell the reserved 
capacity of NV3 product to NVIDIA at the following prices under the assumptions 
contained in the following matrix. In the event the die size assumptions are 
incorrect, ST and NVIDIA agree to change the prices proportionally.

          Technology         1H97        2H97

          HCMOS5S            [*]         [*]   
          4 Level Metal
          9.5 x 9.5 mm die
          256 PIN BGA

          HCMOS6             [*]         [*]   
          5 Level Metal    
          7.5 x 7.5 mm die
          256 PIN BGA

ST prices offered to NVIDIA offered to NVIDIA shall at all times be as low as 
those offered by ST to any other third party for comparable products under 
similar business terms and conditions.

At approximately 6 monthly intervals, ST and NVIDIA agree to meet and review 
the competitiveness of the current pricing, and negotiate in good faith pricing
for the subsequent 6 month period.

NVIDIA acknowledges that the HCMOS6 process technology referenced in the 
preceding matrix is currently under development by ST and is included in the 
price matrix based on ST's reasonable estimate of when the NV3 product may be 
manufactured using the technology. In addition NVIDIA recognizes that the 
development of the process technology may be delayed so that it is unavailable 
for use in manufacturing the NV3 product during the terms of this Amendment. ST
shall promptly notify NVIDIA of any such delay and the expected delivery date.




[*] Certain information on this page has been omitted and filed separately with
    the Commission. Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to
    the omitted portions.

                                       5
<PAGE>
 
 6.5  PRICES ON NV1-V32 KIT. Upon final execution of this Amendment, ST will 
manufacture and sell the NV1-V32 (revision C) kit, comprising the NV1-V32 and 
the NVDAC, to NVIDIA at $22.00 per kit, subject to acceptance or orders by ST 
under the then current terms and conditions of sale.

7.    ROYALTIES

 7.1  ROYALTIES ON STG2000. Upon final execution of this Amendment, paragraph 
V.A. of the Original Agreement will be modified to provide for a [*] royalty
payable to NVIDIA on any and all future ST Net Sales (as defined in the Original
Agreement) of the NV1-D64 product in any volume (known to ST as the STG2000).

 7.2  ROYALTIES ON STG3000. ST shall pay NVIDIA a royalty of [*] on its Net 
Sales (as defined in the Original Agreement) of the STG3000. This rate will be 
reduced to [*] under the prepaid credit mechanism described in paragraph 7.5.
In any event, ST's royalty obligation shall cease for any Net Sales of the
STG3000 made after December 31st 1998.

 7.3  ROYALTIES ON FUTURE NV PRODUCTS BASED ON NV ARCHITECTURE. Starting January
1, 1998, the royalty for Net Sales of all future ST products on NVIDIA's NV 
Architecture will be the ratio of the core area (total silicon area not 
including bond pad area) wholly incorporation NV Technology and the total core 
area, multiplied by the royalty rate shown in the table below.

<TABLE> 
<CAPTION> 
                     Total Volume             Royalty Rate
                     ------------             ------------
                     <S>                      <C>         
                     First 5 MU                  [*]
                     Next 10 MU                  [*]
                     Beyond 11MU                 [*]
</TABLE> 

To the extent such royalty payments are due and payable prior to the close of 
business on December 31, 1998, 50% of such royalty payment will be paid in the 
form of a reduction of the prepaid royalty described in paragraph 7.5.

 7.4  PREPAYMENT OF ROYALTY. Upon final execution of this Amendment by both ST 
and NVIDIA, ST agrees to prepay $2,500,000 of the royalty payment due NVIDIA 
pursuant to the terms of paragraph 7.2. ST shall prepay the royalty as follows: 
$1,000,000 upon final execution of this Amendment, $750,000 three months 
following the final execution of this agreement, and $750,000 six months 
following the final execution of this Amendment.

 7.5 REDUCTION OF PREPAYMENT CREDIT/REPAYMENT OBLIGATION. Upon receiving the
prepaid royalty pursuant to paragraph 7.4, NVIDIA shall provide ST a credit
towards future royalty obligations. NVIDIA shall reduce such credit by an amount
equal to (i) [*] of ST's Net Sales (as defined in the Original Agreement) of the
STG3000, and (ii) [*] of any royalty due on ST's Net Sales of any future NV
based products pursuant to the terms of paragraph 7.3. Following reduction of
the prepayment amount to zero, royalties shall be payable to NVIDIA as provided
in paragraphs 7.2 and 7.3. In the event a portion of such credit remains as of
the close


[*] Certain information on this page has been omitted and filed separately with
    the Commission. Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to
    the omitted portions.

                                       6
<PAGE>
 
of business of December 31st 1998, NVIDIA shall be obligated to remit such 
balance to ST by the close of business on January 10th 1999. Thereafter, ST 
shall be required to pay a cash royalty payment equal to the full royalty amount
on such future Net Sales pursuant to the terms of paragraphs 7.1 and 7.2.

 7.6  SECURITY FOR PREPAID ROYALTY. In order to provide ST security for the 
prepaid royalty, to the extent not already pledged as collateral as of the date 
of this Amendment, NVIDIA shall grant ST a priority security interest on 
specific assets identified by ST in an amount equal to the prepaid royalty. ST 
shall release such security interest in the same amount as the prepaid royalty 
credit described in paragraph 7.4 is reduced.

 7.7  PAYMENT OF ROYALTIES. All royalties shall be calculated on a quarterly 
basis, shall be payable to NVIDIA within 45 days of the close of a calendar 
quarter unless offset as described in section 7.8, shall be accompanied by a 
written report showing the calculation of such royalty payment during the prior 
quarter, and shall be subject to independent audit no more frequently than once 
a year. The audit shall be at NVIDIA's sole cost unless it reveals a discrepancy
of more than 10% in ST's favor in which case ST shall be obligated to pay for 
such audit, and it shall take place during normal business hours upon reasonable
prior notice to ST.

 7.8  OFFSET. ST may, at its sole discretion, elect to offset amounts receivable
form NVIDIA in lieu of making the payments in this section 7. Any such offset
will be reflected in the corresponding royalty report.

8.    MODIFICATIONS OF THE ORIGINAL AGREEMENT.

The following provisions of the Original Agreement are modified as follows:

 8.1  NVIDIA shall have no further obligation pursuant to paragraph 1.A. or 1.B.
to develop any future NV architecture based products or develop software to 
support such products.

 8.2  NVIDIA shall be obligated to transfer all licensed technology
(architecture, product, and software), and provide reasonable technical
assistance, pursuant to paragraph 1.C, through the termination of this
Amendment.

 8.3  NVIDIA shall have no further obligations to disclose NV products or to 
offer ST a license to any further NV products as required in paragraphs II.B.
or III.B. or V.B. and ST shall no longer have any rights under such paragraphs.

 8.4  ST shall no longer have any royalty obligations pursuant to paragraph V.A.
except as contained in section 7 of this Amendment.

 8.5  ST shall no longer have any obligation to develop any ASIC or DAC for the 
NV1-DS4, the NV1-V32, or any other product pursuant to paragraphs VI.A. and
VI.B.

                                       7
<PAGE>
 
8.6  ST shall have no further obligation to provide any marketing support
pursuant to paragraph VIII.A. and the parties shall have no further obligation
to maintain the Joint Marketing Committee pursuant to paragraph VIII.B.

8.7  ST shall extend the line of credit established for the benefit of NVIDIA 
pursuant to paragraph VII.B. through the expiration of this Amendment unless 
NVIDIA issues its first public stock offering prior thereto, in which case the 
line of credit will expire concurrent with the stock offering. All credit issued
to such line of credit shall be repaid to ST pursuant to the terms of the 
Original Agreement, to be replaced in part by ST's standard terms of credit.

8.8  The term of the Original Agreement and therefore this Amendment referenced 
in paragraph XI.A. shall be extended through December 31, 1997.


9.   ALL OTHER TERMS REMAIN UNCHANGED. Unless modified by the terms of this
Amendment, the terms of the Original Agreement shall remain unchanged and shall
be extended through December 31, 1997. In addition, any representation or
warranty made by either party in the Original Agreement shall be deemed made
again as of the date of this Amendment. To the extent any term of the Original
Agreement conflicts with a term contained in this Amendment, the parties agree
that the term contained in this Amendment shall be the controlling term.


10.  SURVIVAL.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Amendment or the Original
Agreement, ST and NVIDIA recognize that all licenses granted in the Original
Agreement and this Amendment are perpetual and this will survive termination of
this Agreement. In addition, NVIDIA's obligation to transfer the NV
architecture, product technology, and software, and ST's obligation to transfer
the Video and Graphics DAC technology, all in the form that it exists on
December 31, 1997, shall survive termination. The parties confidentiality and
royalty obligations shall also survive termination.

IN WITNESS THEREOF, the parties have executed this Amendment as of the date set 
forth above.

NVIDIA Corporation                           SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc.

/s/ Jen-Hsun Huang                           /s/ A. McK. Malone      
- ---------------------                        ---------------------
Jen-Hsun Huang                               A. McK. Malone             
- ---------------------                        ---------------------
PRESIDENT & CEO                              Vice President - Finance & CEO

                                       8

<PAGE>
 
                                   EXHIBITS

                     Exhibit A: NVIDIA Deliverables NV3

NVidia will develop and share the following source with ST:

     1. Design Data for the Core Technology which will include but not be 
        limited to:

        NV3 PCI Bus Interface
        NV3 SVGA and CRT Controller
        NV3 Frame Buffer Interface for EDO and SGRAM memory
        NV3 Media Port
        NV3 Wavetable Synthesis and Soundblaster (DOS Audio) Engineer
        NV3 2D and 3D Graphics Engine
        All on-chip interfaces for the above

     2. For each of the above, the following views will be supplied:

        Production Chip level Verilog
        Architectural Specification comprising:
          Programmer's reference
          Class Definitions
          Architectural Developer guide
        Register Specifications comprising:
          Manuals
          Compilation tools
        Design Environment comprising:
          Verification
          Script Generation Tools

     3. Software for the Core Technology, which will include but not be 
     limited to the following:

          NV3 Resource Manager
          Windows 95 Display Drivers
          Windows 95 WDM Drivers 
          Windows NT Display Drivers
          Windows NT WDM Drivers
          All Windows 95 Direct-X drivers developed by NVidia for the NV3
          Installation Utilities
          Production Diagnostics
          Debug Diagnostics
          Software QA Automation Scripts
          Software Release Build Utilities
          NVLIB
          SDK Utilities
          Waretable Bank Files


<PAGE>
 
EXHIBIT B: ST Deliverables (DAC)

Design data and technology for the following:
     Video Controller
     Ramdac including 
          graphics fifo
          Palette rams and pixel data path
          DACs
          Frequency synthesizers
          Game ports
     IO pads including ESD structures

Following information is necessary for each of these
     Video controller
          Production Chip Verilog
          Test files
          Test video clips
          Manuals 
     All components of Ramdac and IO pads as listed above:
          Production Chip Verilog
          Schematics
          Hierarchical GDS2 data base
          Design rules  
          Spice models
          Spice circuit files and simulation decks
          Design review package
          Simulation and characterization results 
Production test vectors and test plan
Necessary inputs (scripts, constraints, etc.) for Synopsis Synthesis tools
Necessary inputs (scripts, constraints, etc.) for static timing analysis
Description of known critical timing paths and/or critical circuit elements
(behaviors)






<PAGE>
 
             SECOND AMENDMENT TO STRATEGIC COLLABORATION AGREEMENT

This Second Amendment and Extension to the Collaboration Agreement (the "Second 
Amendment") between SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc., a Delaware Corporation 
("ST") and NVIDIA Corporation, a California Corporation ("NVIDIA"), is entered 
into this 27th day of January 1998 (hereinafter the "Second Amendment").

Whereas, ST and NVIDIA entered into that certain Strategic Collaboration 
Agreement on November 10, 1993 (the "Original Agreement");

Whereas, ST and NVIDIA modified the Original Agreement on June 3, 1996 (the 
"First Amendment"); and

Whereas, ST and NVIDIA wish to further amend the Original Agreement as
previously modified by the First Amendment;

Now Therefore, intending to be legally bound, ST and NVIDIA hereby agree as 
follows:

1.   PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

1.1  PRODUCT DESIGN. The product design of the Next Generation Product will be 
that of the NV3 and will be identical for ST and NVIDIA. The product will be 
marketed under a common trade name which has been agreed by the parties as the 
"RIVA128". References in the First Amendment to the STG3000 and NV3 alternative 
versions of the Next Generation Product and to their separate development, sales
and marketing and features are hereby deleted and references therein shall be 
deemed reference to the single product design now known as RIVA128.

1.2  RELATED PRODUCT. NVIDIA will develop a product related to the RIVA128 to be
known as the RIVA128ZX. ST will synthesize the design of the RIVA128ZX into its 
process technology and perform layout/LVS/DRC for the RIVA128ZX, NVIDIA will 
design reference, and debug boards and driver software for the RIVA128ZX, ST and
NVIDIA will jointly develop emulation boards and perform system bring up and
validation of the RIVA128ZX. All references to the RIVA128 will include by
implied reference the RIVA128ZX product.

1.3  CORE TECHNOLOGY. Subject to the terms of the Original Agreement and the 
First Amendment, each party will be able to independently develop, build and 
market future products using the Core Technology.

1.4  ST CONTRIBUTION. Section 5.2 of the First Amendment shall be modified as 
follows:
 
<PAGE>
 
  ST shall obtain and provide three physical design CAD seats for use by
  NVIDIA. The CAD seats would include tools necessary for NVIDIA to duplicate
  the back-end methodology used by ST on the development of the RIVA128. ST
  shall be responsible for the cost of the (3) CAD seats through June 30, 1998.

1.5  PRODUCT MANUFACTURING. ST will manufacture the RIVA 128 using its advanced 
process technology.

2.   SOFTWARE AND QA SUPPORT

     In return for ST forgiving the $2.5 million of prepaid royalty provided to
NVIDIA pursuant to the terms of the First Amendment. NVIDIA shall provide 
software engineering and QA support to ST for the RIVA128 and any derivarive 
product developed by ST through December 31, 1998. The software support for 
provided to ST shall specifically include but not be limited to support of MS 
Windows NT 4.0 and 5.0, MS Windows 95, and MS Windows 98 (Memphis). During this
period NVIDIA shall provide ST support for its sales of RIVA 128 on the same
basis and in the same time frame as it provides such benefits for itself. In any
event, ST shall receive software releases concurrently with NVIDIA.

3.   PRODUCT MARKETING

     The parties will create a joint Sales and Marketing Committee with equal 
voting authority for NVIDIA and ST. This Committee will review sales and 
marketing decisions of both parties related to the RIVA128.

     The parties will share equally the manufacturing cost of building boards 
for the RIVA128 to be used as prototypes and for marketing purposes.

4.   PRODUCT SALES

     Each party will have the right to sell the RIVA128 at a price determined by
such party at its discretion. For its customers, NVIDIA will take orders and 
place corresponding sales orders on ST (NVIDIA will act as a non-stocking 
distributor). NVIDIA may at its discretion direct ST to ship directly to 
NVIDIA's customers at NVIDIA's cost. The method of shipment shall be as directed
by NVIDIA.

     ST will provide NVIDIA with regular updates on the status of its orders and
the work in process for the RIVA128.

     NVIDIA will use its best efforts to provide reasonable technical 
assistance, reasonable design-in assistance, and reasonable software support to 
both parties customers.
<PAGE>
 
     ST will use reasonable efforts to support reasonable manufacturing and 
information needs of NVIDIA.

     Each party will provide the Sales and Marketing Committee a rolling six 
month sales forecast of the RIVA128 on a monthly basis.

     The last 30 days prior to the Last Commit Date to the customer will be 
considered firm demand. If an NVIDIA customer cancels or reschedules its order, 
at NVIDIA's request, ST will use reasonable efforts to ship the product to one 
of ST's customer. If ST does not have additional demand for the product, NVIDIA 
will accept delivery of the product. This provision replaces Section 6.2 of the 
First Amendment in its entirety.

     Each party is responsible for the compensation of its own sales force and 
other personnel.

     ST will use reasonable efforts to maintain capacity for an adequate supply 
of product to fill the orders of both parties and saturate ST's available 
market. Any shortfall in capacity shall be allocated fairly by the Sales and 
Marketing Committee. The Sales and Marketing Committee will approve the product 
allocation policy which will govern the allocation of product to each of the 
parties outside of the last 30 days prior to the Customer Shipment date. In the
event that the Committee cannot agree on a policy, the product available will be
allocated on a pro rata basis based on each party's backlog. ST will use
reasonable efforts to provide sufficient capacity to manufacture according to
NVIDIA's 1998 forecast. This is initially set at 500,000 per month, and will be
revised monthly as provided for herein.

5.   PRODUCT PRICING

     The pricing provision of Section 6.4 of the First Amendment are hereby
deleted. ST will provide the RIVA128 to NVIDIA based on a long term supply
relationship at a price (the"Adjusted Price") negotiated monthly by the Sales
and Marketing Committee. The Adjusted Price is equal to the amount displayed
in Exhibit B ("Base Cost") for the corresponding manufacturing plus on amount
("Mark-Up") determined by the Sales and Marketing Committee. In any event, the
Adjusted Price shall not exceed the maximum Price listed in Exhibit A. The
Mark-up is computed as [*]. In the event that the Committee can not agree on
the Mark-up, the Adjusted Price shall be equal to the Mark-up for the previous
quarter plus the then current Base Price.

     NVIDIA shall have the right to have an independent audit of the 
manufacturing yield no more frequently than once a year. The audit shall be at
NVIDIA's sole cost unless it reveals a discrepancy of more than 10% in ST's 
favor in which case ST shall be obligated to pay for such audit. Any audit shall
take place during normal business hours upon reasonable prior notice to ST.


[*] Certain information on this page has been omitted and filed separately with
    the Commission. Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to
    the omitted portions.

<PAGE>
 
6.   PRODUCT PAYMENT

     Section VII(B) of the Original Agreement and Section 8.7 of the First
Amendment are hereby modified as follows:

  ST will grant NVIDIA a revolving line of credit up to a maximum of the sum of
  NVIDIA equity and ST's profit margin in sales of RIVA128 products to NVIDIA
  over the preceding thirty (30) days. For purposes of this Section 6, NVIDIA's
  equity shall equal the difference between NVIDIA's assets and liabilities
  during the same thirty (30) day period for which ST will measure its profit on
  the sale of RIVA128 products to NVIDIA. ST's profit shall be the Mark-Up
  multiplied by the number of units sold to NVIDIA during such thirty (30) day
  period. ST shall have no obligation to grant such line of credit until NVIDIA
  enters into sufficient agreements documenting such arrangement and providing
  ST sufficient security to issue such line of credit. NVIDIA shall pay the full
  balance of such line of credit within ten (10) days of the initial public
  offering of its securities. All other terms of such Sections shall remain
  unchanged except as previously amended.

7.   ROYALTIES

     Section 7.2 and 7.3 of the First Amendment are hereby deleted and replaced
with: ST shall pay NVIDIA a per unit royalty equal to the Mark-Up set monthly by
the Sales and Marketing Committee on its Net Sales of the Next Generation
Product within 30 days of shipment. In any event, references made to paragraphs
7.2 and 7.3 of the First Amendment made in paragraph 7.5 of the First Amendment
are hereby replaced by reference to this paragraph 7. If the Committee cannot
agree on a new royalty, the per unit royalty shall remain the same as the prior
quarter.

8.   CREDIT

     NVIDIA will be solely responsible for the credit decisions relating to its
customers. NVIDIA will be solely responsible for invoicing and collections from
such customers. ST will be solely responsible for the credit decision,
invoicing, and collections relating to its customers.

9.   SECOND SOURCE

     NVIDIA retains the right to second source the RIVA128 using a third party
manufacturing facility and to market and sell the products to its customers.
NVIDIA second sourced product shall not be covered by this Second Amendment.

10.  CONTROLLING TERMS
<PAGE>
 

     Except as set forth herein, all terms of the Original Agreement, as 
previously modified by the First Amendment, shall remain in full force and 
effect. To the extent any term of the Original Agreement or the First Amendment 
conflicts with a term in this Second Amendment, the parties agree that the term 
contained in this Second Amendment shall be the controlling term.

11.  NONINTERFERENCE     

     In light of the fact that ST and NVIDIA have been working closely together
in joint development projects and their mutual desire to each maintain a stable
work force necessary for continued business success, ST and NVIDIA each agree,
as a reciprocal agreement, that during the term of this Agreement, as now or
hereafter amended, and for two (2) years after the expiration of the term, as
the same may be extended, neither party will, directly or indirectly, (a) induce
or attempt to induce any employee to leave the employment of the other party or
any of its affiliated companies; (b) interfere with or disrupt the other party's
relationship with any of its employees; (c) solicit any employee of the other
party or its affiliated companies to come to work for it or one of its
affiliated companies; or (d) hire any employee, or former employee, of the other
party or its affiliated companies.

12.  NO OTHER CHANGES

     Unless modified by the terms of this Second Amendment, the terms of the 
Original Agreement, as previously modified by the First Amendment, shall remain 
unchanged. It is expressly understood that this Second Amendment in no way is 
intended to extend the term of the Original Agreement, as previously amended by 
the First Amendment, which shall terminate on December 31, 1997.

     Capitalized terms used herein but not defined have the meaning set forth in
the Original Agreement or the Amendment.

     IN THE WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Second Amendment as 
of the date set forth above.

SGS-THOMSON Microelectronics, Inc.                        NVIDIA Corporation

/s/ Tim Chambers                                          /s/ Jen-Hsun Huang
- ----------------                                          ------------------
Tim Chambers                                              Jen-Hsun Huang
Vice President                                            President & CEO
Graphics Products Division




<PAGE>
 
                                   EXHIBIT A

<TABLE> 
<CAPTION> 
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Defect Density                                         Base Cost
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      (def/cm2)                (Dzero/l)      Q1'98           Q2'98         Q3'98        Q4'98 
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         <S>                    <C>           <C>            <C>            <C>          <C> 
         [*]                    [*]           $[*]           $[*]            [*]          [*]
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         [*]                    [*]           $[*]           $[*]           $[*]         $[*]
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         [*]                    [*]           $[*]           $[*]           $[*]         $[*]
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         [*]                    [*]           $[*]           $[*]           $[*]         $[*]
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         [*]                    [*]           $[*]           $[*]           $[*]         $[*]
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         [*]                    [*]           $[*]           $[*]           $[*]         $[*]
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
</TABLE>

[*] Certain information on this page has been omitted and filed separately with
    the Commission. Confidential treatment has been requested with respect to
    the omitted portions.


<PAGE>
 
                                                                   EXHIBIT 23.1
 
                        CONSENT OF INDEPENDENT AUDITORS
 
The Board of Directors and Stockholders
NVIDIA Corporation:
   
  We consent to the use of our report included herein and to the reference of
our firm under the headings "Selected Financial Data" and "Experts" in the
prospectus.     
 
                                          KPMG Peat Marwick LLP
 
Mountain View, California
   
June 5, 1998     


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