# Jensen Huang Thanks Sega for the $5M Investment That Saved Nvidia in 1995 Nvidia's CEO visited Sega to express gratitude for the lifeline that kept the company afloat. - **Source:** [The Next Web](https://brifing.si/source/afe24b20-b275-4c19-b9a6-8bb3c8babae7) - **Published:** 2026-07-15 - **Topic:** [Business](https://brifing.si/c/business) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/40e629ef-1030-4eba-ae78-ebd6133845c7 ## The Historic Bond Between Nvidia and Sega Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang traveled to Tokyo to thank Sega for the $5 million investment in 1995 that saved his company from bankruptcy. Huang emphasized that this support was crucial for Nvidia's current success. ## The Failure of the NV1 Chip In 1995, Nvidia launched its first chip, the NV1. However, Microsoft's DirectX made triangle-based graphics the standard, leading to the NV1's failure and pushing Nvidia into a financial crisis. ## Sega's Life-Saving Investment Jensen Huang met with Sega's former CEO Shoichiro Irimajiri to request converting a contract payment into an equity investment. Irimajiri approved this risky move, giving Nvidia six more months to survive. ## The Turning Point with RIVA 128 With Sega's investment, Nvidia developed the RIVA 128, a triangle-based chip. Released in 1997, it sold one million units in four months, marking a turning point for the company. ## Nvidia's Current Position Nvidia went public in 1999 and is now the world's most valuable company. Sega's investment could be worth nearly $1 trillion today. ## Celebrating 30 Years of Collaboration During his Tokyo visit, Jensen Huang reunited with Sega's former executives to celebrate 30 years of collaboration. The two companies decided to bring a new Virtua Fighter game to Nvidia hardware. ## Sources covering this story - https://thenextweb.com/news/nvidia-sega-1995-5-million-rescue — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._