[Peace&Chips] Success Through 'Immigrant Grit'... Jensen Huang "The Era of General AI Will Come Within 5 Years"

NVIDIA CEO Rises to 20th Richest in the World
Taiwanese-American... Founded Company in 1993
Workaholic Like Steve Jobs

When you hear the keyword 'Artificial Intelligence (AI),' who comes to mind? Given the flood of AI-related news these days, various figures might be mentioned, but most people would probably think of this person: Jensen Huang, the founder and CEO of the American company Nvidia.

Since co-founding Nvidia in 1993 and diligently growing the company, Jensen Huang has transformed it into a giant corporation with a market capitalization of $2.057 trillion (approximately 2,748.152 trillion KRW). Nvidia's market cap surpasses not only South Korea's but also the annual budgets of many countries, including Japan.

Jensen Huang, Founder and CEO of NVIDIA /

This month, Nvidia's market cap surpassed $2 trillion intraday for the first time, making it the third company after Apple and Microsoft (MS) to join the $2 trillion club. Considering that it first crossed the $1 trillion mark in June last year, the company's size has doubled in less than a year.

Thanks to this, Jensen Huang, who owns 3.5% of Nvidia's shares, recorded assets exceeding $72.4 billion (about 96.7264 trillion KRW) as of the 2nd, ranking 20th among the world's richest people. Having lingered around the 20th position recently, he is now emerging as a billionaire aiming for the top 10.

Immigrated to the U.S. at Age 9... Founded Nvidia in a Restaurant

Nvidia's remarkable achievements have drawn significant public attention to Jensen Huang. Born in 1963, he is 61 years old this year and was born in the Year of the Rabbit. Many might be surprised by his age, likely due to his energetic management style as he travels worldwide.

Jensen Huang is a Taiwanese-American. Born to a chemical engineer father and an English teacher mother, he lived in Taiwan and Thailand until he was nine years old before immigrating to the United States.

He enrolled at Oregon State University, where tuition was relatively affordable, earning a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. He then began his engineering career working at semiconductor companies such as AMD. Later, he completed a master's degree in the same field at Stanford University. At age 30, in 1993, Jensen Huang found a new opportunity in life.

A view of the NVIDIA headquarters campus in Santa Clara, USA. There are two buildings named Voyager and Endeavor, after the spaceship names from the famous sci-fi movie "Star Trek." / Photo by NVIDIA Newsroom

At that time, he met fellow engineers Chris Malachowsky and Curtis Priem at a restaurant chain called Denny's in San Jose, California, where they sketched out their plans for founding Nvidia on a napkin. The startup capital was $40,000, and their first office was a rented apartment. Like many Silicon Valley-born companies, they took a small but great first step.

As an avid computer gamer, Jensen Huang focused on the promising field of 'graphics.' To render increasingly vivid game scenes, the level of graphics technology needed to improve, requiring dedicated chipsets capable of rapidly processing large amounts of pixels (the smallest unit of a screen, or 'dots').

In response, Nvidia introduced its graphics chipset in 1995. In 1999, it launched the 'GeForce' brand, which established the current concept of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). Instead of a Central Processing Unit (CPU) that focuses on one complex task, the GPU handles many simple tasks simultaneously. In 2007, Nvidia further expanded its market dominance by releasing 'CUDA,' software supporting GPUs.

Today, Nvidia GPUs are essential not only in gaming but also in AI fields that require large-scale data training. This has even led to shortages. The company has grown into a powerful enterprise that can even challenge major U.S. big tech firms.

Jensen Huang Contemplates Future Business... Predicts AGI Arrival Within 5 Years

What is Jensen Huang's personality like? In Silicon Valley, he is said to resemble Steve Jobs, the Apple founder. They share a stubborn fashion style of wearing the same clothes daily, but more importantly, they are both dedicated workaholics who live to work. According to foreign media, he does not even wear a wristwatch to stay focused on the present. Nvidia employees often see their CEO bustling around the headquarters campus or dining in the cafeteria.

Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, speaking at the '2024 Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Summit' held on the 1st (local time) in California, USA. He predicted at this event that we could see Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) within the next five years.
[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

His immigrant background is also noteworthy. According to the New York Post, a longtime acquaintance of Jensen Huang credits his success to 'grit and resilience.' The challenges and adjustments he faced in childhood became a significant source of strength.

Indeed, he faced hardships such as racial discrimination during his school years but showed exceptional qualities by graduating high school early in just two years. He also worked part-time in restaurants from the age of 15, which helped him overcome shyness. He said, "I strongly recommend getting your first job in the restaurant industry," adding, "It taught me humility and diligence."

Jensen Huang's current concern is future business. Although he could enjoy the achievements he has made so far, he is reportedly pondering what the future shaped by AI will look like and what new opportunities will arise. This explains why he admires the book 'Only the Paranoid Survive' by Andy Grove, the legendary Intel executive.

For now, he is focused on 'Artificial General Intelligence (AGI),' which possesses human-level consciousness. Jensen Huang predicted at a recent U.S. event, following last year, that AGI could be realized within the next five years. He noted that the timeline depends on how AGI is defined, but when it arrives, AGI will excel in all human examinations.

Editor's NoteSemiconductors, often called the rice of modern industry. Although we hear the term daily, it can be hard to explain. Peace & Chips will make the complex concepts and overall industry trends easy to digest. Just bring your spoon.