ELI5: Why are NVIDIA chips smart?

NVIDIA chips are "smart" because they're really good at doing lots of simple math problems all at the same time, which helps them quickly understand pictures and other complicated things.

Imagine you have a big box of LEGOs, and you want to build a castle.

• If you only had one little helper, they'd have to find each brick, figure out where it goes, and put it in place, one by one. This would take a very, very long time!

• Now, imagine you had thousands of tiny helpers. Each helper could be responsible for finding a specific type of brick, or for putting bricks in a specific area of the castle. Because they're all working at the same time, the castle gets built much faster!

• For example, when you play a video game, the NVIDIA chip uses its "helpers" to quickly calculate how light should bounce off objects, where shadows should fall, and how things should move on the screen. This makes the game look realistic and smooth.

• Similarly, when you use a face recognition app on your phone, the NVIDIA chip uses its "helpers" to quickly compare your face to millions of other faces in a database, to figure out who you are.