Jensen Huang, AI visionary in a leather jacket
The unassuming 62-year-old draws stadium crowds of more than 10,000 people as his company's products push the boundaries of artificial intelligence.
Chips designed by Nvidia, known as graphics cards or GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), are essential in developing the generative artificial intelligence powering technology like ChatGPT.
Big tech's insatiable appetite for Nvidia's GPUs, which sell for tens of thousands of dollars each, has catapulted the California chipmaker beyond $4 trillion in market valuation, the first company ever to surpass that mark.
Nvidia's meteoric rise has boosted Huang's personal fortune to $150 billion — making him one of the world's richest people — thanks to the roughly 3.5% stake he holds in the company he founded three decades ago with two friends in a Silicon Valley diner.
In a clear demonstration of his clout, he recently convinced U.S. President Donald Trump to lift restrictions on certain GPU exports to China, despite the fact that China is locked in a battle with the United States for AI supremacy.
"That was brilliantly done," said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a governance professor at Yale University.
Huang was able to explain to Trump that "having the world using a U.S. tech platform as the core protocol is definitely in the interest of this country" and won't help the Chinese military, Sonnenfeld said.
Early life
Born in Taipei in 1963, Jensen Huang (originally named Jen-Hsun) embodies the American success story. At nine years old, he was sent away with his brother to boarding school in small-town Kentucky.
His uncle recommended the school to his Taiwanese parents believing it to be a prestigious institution, when it was actually a school for troubled youth.
Too young to be a student, Huang boarded there but attended a nearby public school alongside the children of tobacco farmers. With his poor English, he was bullied and forced to clean toilets — a two-year ordeal that transformed him.
U.S. President Donald Trump hosts Huang for an event to discuss U.S. technology investments at the White House in Washington on April 30. |
Pete Marovich / The New York Times
"We worked really hard, we studied really hard, and the kids were really tough," he recounted in an interview with U.S. broadcaster NPR.
But "the ending of the story is I loved the time I was there," Huang said.
Leather jacket and tattoo
Brought home by his parents, who had by then settled in the northwestern U.S. state of Oregon, he graduated from university at just 20 and joined AMD, then LSI Logic, to design chips — his passion.
But he wanted to go further and founded Nvidia in 1993 to "solve problems that normal computers can't," using semiconductors powerful enough to handle 3D graphics, as he explained on the "No Priors" podcast.
Nvidia created the first GPU in 1999, riding the intersection of video games, data centers, cloud computing, and now, generative AI.
Always dressed in a black T-shirt and leather jacket, Huang sports a Nvidia logo tattoo and has a taste for sports cars.
But it's his relentless optimism, low-key personality and lack of political alignment that sets him apart from the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
Unlike them, Huang was notably absent from Trump's inauguration ceremony.
"He backpedals his own aura and has the star be the technology rather than himself," observed Sonnenfeld, who believes Huang may be "the most respected of all today's tech titans."
One former high-ranking Nvidia employee described him as "the most driven person" he'd ever met.
Street food
On visits to his native Taiwan, Huang is treated like a megastar, with fans crowding him for autographs and selfies as journalists follow him to the barber shop and his favorite night market.
"He has created the phenomena because of his personal charm," noted Wayne Lin of Witology Market Trend Research Institute.
"A person like him must be very busy and his schedule should be full every day meeting big bosses. But he remembers to eat street food when he comes to Taiwan," he said, calling Huang "unusually friendly."
Nvidia is a tight ship and takes great care to project a drama-free image of Huang.
But the former high-ranking employee painted a more nuanced picture, describing a "very paradoxical" individual who is fiercely protective of his employees but also capable, within Nvidia's executive circle, of "ripping people to shreds" over major mistakes or poor choices.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yomiuri Shimbun
an hour ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Economists Doubt Trump Outlook That US Will Sell ‘So Much' Beef to Australia
WASHINGTON/CANBERRA/CHICAGO, July 25 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said the sell 'so much' beef to Australia after Canberra relaxed import restrictions on Thursday, but economists and traders said high prices and tight supplies make major American exports unlikely. Australia said it would loosen biosecurity rules for U.S. beef. The move will not significantly increase U.S. shipments, though, because Australia is a major beef producer and exporter whose prices are much lower, analysts said. U.S. companies export small quantities of beef to Australian buyers. They import much more in the form of lean beef used to make hamburgers, particularly as U.S. production has declined because of tight cattle supplies. U.S. beef prices set records this year after ranchers slashed their herds due to drought that burned up pasturelands used for grazing. The total herd size fell to 94.2 million head as of July 1, a record low for that date, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data on Friday. A ban on cattle imports from Mexico because of New World screwworm, a devastating livestock pest, and steep tariffs on Brazilian beef that are set to take effect on Aug. 1 could further tighten meat supplies, and require additional imports of Australian beef. 'We can't get enough beef in the U.S. right now, so we're bringing it in from Australia and Brazil,' said Dan Norcini, an independent U.S. livestock trader. 'We're not going to be selling anything significant to anyone.' Last year, Australia shipped almost 400,000 metric tons of beef worth $2.9 billion to the United States, with just 269 tons of U.S. product moving the other way. 'They have more cattle than people,' said David Anderson, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University. 'That's why they export so much.' DIFFERENT TASTE U.S. and Australian beef also taste different. Many Australians like the grass-fed beef raised there, not marbled beef from U.S.-raised cattle that are generally fed with grain, said Jerry Klassen, chief analyst for Resilient Capital in Winnipeg. He predicted the United States will not export substantial amounts of beef to Australia in the next five years. 'We just aren't in a position to export much beef to anyone, and the reality is Australia doesn't really have much need for U.S. beef,' said Karl Setzer, partner at Consus Ag. The barriers that remain to exporting significant volumes of U.S. beef to Australia appeared to be lost on Trump this week. 'We are going to sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that U.S. Beef is the Safest and Best in the entire World,' Trump said in a post on Truth Social. 'The other Countries that refuse our magnificent Beef are ON NOTICE.' Trump has attempted to renegotiate trade deals with numerous countries he says have taken advantage of the United States, a characterisation many economists dispute. 'For decades, Australia imposed unjustified barriers on U.S. beef,' U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement, calling Australia's decision a 'major milestone in lowering trade barriers and securing market access for U.S. farmers and ranchers.' Australian officials say the relaxation of restrictions was not part of any trade negotiations but the result of a years-long assessment of U.S. biosecurity practices. Canberra has restricted U.S. beef imports since 2003 due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. Since 2019, it has allowed in meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. but few suppliers were able to prove that their cattle had not been in Canada and Mexico. The U.S. sources some of its feeder cattle from the two neighboring countries. On Wednesday, Australia's agriculture ministry said U.S. cattle traceability and control systems had improved enough that Australia could accept beef from cattle born in Canada or Mexico and slaughtered in the United States. The decision has caused some concern in Australia, where biosecurity is seen as essential to prevent diseases and pests from ravaging the farm sector. 'We need to know if (the government) is sacrificing our high biosecurity standards just so Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can obtain a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump,' shadow agriculture minister David Littleproud said in a statement. Australia faces a 10% across-the-board U.S. tariff, as well 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum. Trump has also threatened to impose a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals. Asked whether the change would help achieve a trade deal, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said: 'I'm not too sure.' 'We haven't done this in order to entice the Americans into a trade agreement,' he said. 'We think that they should do that anyway.'
Japan Times
2 hours ago
- Japan Times
EU's Von der Leyen to meet Trump in bid to clinch trade deal
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she will travel to Scotland this weekend to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, as the two sides aim to conclude a trade deal ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline when 30% tariffs on the bloc's exports are otherwise due to kick in. After months of talks and shuttle diplomacy between Brussels and Washington, the two sides have been zeroing in on an agreement this past week that would see the EU face 15% tariffs on most of its trade. Limited exemptions are expected for aviation, some medical devices and generic medicines, several spirits, and a specific set of manufacturing equipment that the U.S. needs. Steel and aluminum imports would likely benefit from a quota under the arrangements under discussion but above that threshold they would face a higher tariff of 50%.
Japan Today
6 hours ago
- Japan Today
Small businesses warn of Trump tariff impact on toy industry at Comic-Con
Small business owners used the festive backdrop of Comic-Con to discuss a sobering topic: the negative impact that US President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs are having on the toy industry Small business owners used the festive backdrop of Comic-Con to discuss a sobering topic: the negative impact that President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs are having on the toy industry. "Not the most sexy topic," Jonathan Cathey, chief executive of collectibles company The Loyal Subjects, admitted at a panel titled "Toys, Tariffs, and Trade Wars" at the four-day convention in San Diego, California. "But this ultimately affects you guys, it affects the end user," he said. "Prices will go up, and our rate of sales will go down." Toy companies have been fretting about the impact of Trump's global tariff blitz on the industry, particularly when it comes to China. Of over $17 billion worth of toys imported to the United States last year, more than $13 billion came from China. But a rollercoaster tariff row between Washington and Beijing has caused havoc for U.S. businesses and their Chinese suppliers. Panel moderator Daniel Pickett argued that the Trump administration is "imposing truly exaggerated, somewhat crazy, and frightening measures." He said Trump's proposal to impose additional tariffs on imports "has only wreaked havoc on the entire industry." Trump recently dismissed warnings by toy giant Hasbro's CEO Chris Cocks about rising prices if higher tariffs were imposed, defending his trade policy by emphasizing it favors domestic production. But Cathey argued the rhetoric doesn't reflect American reality. He said: "There's like 480,000 manufacturing jobs... that aren't even filled. So we're going to do what, we're going to bring a bunch of factory jobs back that nobody can fill." The business owner suggested that U.S. value-addition lies in innovation rather than manufacturing. "There are industries where tariffs make sense," Cathey continued, highlighting the automotive and mining sectors. "There's a mechanism where tariffs make sense that actually protect jobs, American workers, and our national security. Barbie ain't it." Brian Flynn of Super7, a collectibles and action figures brand, said the Trump administration's shifting tariff policies have caused chaos and uncertainty. "Nobody knows what's going to happen," he said, adding that the triple-digit tariffs Trump has sometimes mentioned would "drive everyone out of the market." Flynn said the impact was already visible at Comic-Con, where he had to limit himself to a small concession stand rather than a larger exhibit space. Consumers will feel the impact in their wallets next quarter, he warned. "And when it hits, that's going to make a big difference for us." © 2025 AFP
