“What’s the main limiting factor in getting a graphics card to market?” Diercks responded that software drivers—the specialized programs that enable the operating system and PC applications to interface with and use the graphics hardware—were the primary obstacle, because they needed to be completely ready by the time the chip was prepared for mass production. In traditional production processes, the first step was to build a physical prototype of the chip. Once it was complete, software engineers could begin work on the drivers and fix any bugs they encountered. Then the chip’s design was
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