Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang says that VR’s 250 startups remind him of the dawn of graphics chips

We’ve seen the craze around virtual reality before, like when the 3D graphics chip industry was born in the 1990s. Back then, dozens of graphics chip makers were born. Of those, the sole survivor of stand-alone graphics chips is Nvidia, which competes with Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

Nvidia chief executive Jen-Hsun Huang says his company is in touch with more than 250 companies that are doing some form of virtual reality. Huang wants immersive virtual reality to thrive because it increases demand for Nvidia’s own graphics processing units, or GPUs. Nvidia is the world’s largest designer of standalone graphics chips, and GPUs account for the bulk of the Santa Clara, California-based company’s $1.2 billion in quarterly revenues.